Hospital Medicine

What is a hospitalist?

Hospital medicine providers, called hospitalists, specialize in caring for infants, children and adolescents during a hospital stay.

What’s special about the Hospital Medicine team at Seattle Children’s?

Our team features pediatricians board-certified in pediatric hospital medicine who serve as the attending doctors during your child’s stay. We work closely with medical, surgical and emergency medicine specialists. We care for infants, children and adolescents during their hospital stay at Seattle Children’s and at several other hospitals in the region.

Your child and family receive support

Your family has a full team behind you, from diagnosis to treatment and follow-up. Our team is specially trained to work with children and their families. All of our locations provide a kid-friendly, family-centered approach.
The compassionate experts you need are here

Our hospitalists care for thousands of children each year. We treat both common and complex health conditions. We are dedicated to providing a thorough evaluation of your child and will take time to explain your child’s condition and answer all your questions. We help you understand your treatment options and make choices that are right for your family.
We’re advancing care for children and teens

Our providers are involved in committees focused on patient safety, communication and finding ways to offer cost-effective patient care. We are also helping train future physicians by providing education and supervision to medical students and residents.

Services We Provide

Our hospital medicine providers staff the pediatric inpatient units at these hospitals around Washington state:

Members of the Hospital Medicine team care for infants, children and adolescents with general and complex medical needs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Your child may be seen by a hospitalist when your primary care physician does not care for patients at Seattle Children’s or at 1 of the regional locations. We work closely with primary care, emergency medicine and medical and surgical specialty providers.

Who’s on the team?

Our hospitalists are board-certified pediatricians who specialize in the general medical care of infants, children and adolescents during their hospital stay at Seattle Children's or at 1 of several other hospitals in the region. They serve as a child’s attending doctor and are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Seattle Children’s Hospital Medicine providers include:

Leadership

Shawn Leigh Ralston, MD

Division Head
Caryn E Avery, MD

Associate Division Head, Hospital Medicine; Medical Director, Workforce Environmental Health and Safety
Abena Boateng Knight, MD

Vice Chair of Education and Associate Division Head, Hospital Medicine
Jake Hawksworth

Director, Hospital Medicine
Bethany Mortimer

Manager, Business Operations