Spanish Urology Clinic
August 4, 2021
Seattle Children’s now offers an inclusive Spanish Urology Clinic for children in families that speak Spanish as their primary language. It is staffed by Dr. Nicolas Fernandez and other bilingual providers who may provide care and after-visit summaries in both English and Spanish. The clinic operates at both the Seattle hospital campus and Bellevue Clinic and Surgery Center. Telehealth visits are available for most conditions, including for the first visit, to make the clinic more accessible to families.
The clinic treats babies, children and teens with common and complex conditions that affect their urinary tract or genitals; any type of urologic condition will be seen. Common conditions seen include undescended testes, hypospadias, hydronephrosis and vesicoureteral reflux. The clinic offers common procedures to treat conditions affecting the genitals, urinary tract and bladder, including circumcision, surgery to correct undescended testes, hypospadias corrections, robot-assisted pyeloplasty and management of urinary stones.
Patients need a referral. Please specify the Spanish Urology Clinic on your referral.
- How to reach Dr. Fernandez: Referring providers are welcome to contact Dr. Fernandez directly to discuss their patient if they have questions before referring a family to the Spanish language clinic. Email [email protected] or call 206-987-1461. If you have general urology questions not related to the Spanish language clinic, please continue to use our Provider-to-Provider Line instead at 206-987-7777 and ask to speak with the urologist on-call.
- Telehealth visits To help patients qualify for a telehealth visit, referring providers can do two things: (1) clearly note the diagnosis on your referral to help our schedulers know if it’s appropriate for telehealth (there are a few conditions that must be seen in person), and (2) tell the family the diagnosis they are being referred for and ask them to request a telehealth visit when they schedule. This will help ensure they get a telehealth appointment if it’s appropriate.
- Spanish app: Our new Spanish Seattle Children’s app helps families quickly connect to MyChart, find services to support their child and family, access interpreter services and use turn-by-turn directions to navigate the hospital. It can be downloaded from the Apple App or Google Play stores. Family flyer (Spanish).
The Spanish language clinic was created to improve the quality and equity of care for our patients. Medical services offered in a family’s primary language can reduce child and parent anxiety, improve their ability and motivation to follow doctor recommendations, reduce miscommunications that may result in medical complications and encourage follow-up care.
About Dr. Fernandez: Dr. Fernandez is an assistant professor at the University of Washington and a pediatric urologist at Seattle Children’s. He obtained his medical degree from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogota, Colombia. His surgical and urological training was completed at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, where he graduated as a urologist. He also graduated cum laude and received a doctoral degree (Ph.D.) in genetics. Dr. Fernandez obtained his pediatric urology title from the Hospital for Sick Children at the University of Toronto where he also completed a one-year post-doctoral position.