Seattle Children’s Nursing Residency Program

Cancer and Blood Center Inpatient
The Cancer and Blood Disorder Center inpatient unit (CBDC inpt) cares for patients from birth to young adult who are being treated for a hematologic or oncologic diagnoses. This includes Hematopoietic Stem Cell transplant (HSCT) and Immunotherapy patients.

Medical Unit F3
The Medical Unit F3 Care for patients from newborn to 21 years of age. It is comprised mainly of medically complex children, pulmonary and cranio-facial service patients. Staff in this area also care for patients with tracheostomies and ventilators.

Medical Unit R4
The Medical R4 unit cares for patients, newborn to 21 years from medical specialty services. It is comprised mainly of endocrine, neurology, rheumatology, and gastroenterology service patients.

Rehab Unit
The Rehabilitation Unit provides inpatient evaluation and care of children up to 21 years of age with disabilities due to illness, injury, or congenital causes. Additionally, they may care for general surgery and general medical patients. Care is provided to children with traumatic brain injury, spinal cord trauma, burns, and neurological disorders as well as physical or cognitive disabilities. Staff on this unit care for patients with tracheostomies and ventilators. The Rehab unit helps to organize the family's experience and prepare them for the transition back to their home and community.

Surgical Unit RC5
The Surgical Unit RC5 cares for infants to young adults covered by mostly surgical specialties and some medical specialties. This unit's patient population is comprised mainly of General Surgery, Orthopedics, Urology, Neurosurgery, Neurology, Plastics, Craniofacial, ENT/Otolaryngology service patients. Staff in this area care for patients with external ventriculostomies, seizure monitoring needs, halo-gravity traction devices, and fresh spinal fusions.

Surgical Unit RC6
The Surgical RC6 cares for patients from infant to young adult. Patient population includes Cardiology, Cardiac Surgery, Solid Organ Failure and Transplant, Dialysis and Neonatology. Many of the patients begin care in the Cardiac ICU and then transfer to Surgical RC6 to continue care and move towards discharge.

The ACFP provides staffing support to units all over the hospital. Our RNs work on all the acute care floors – Medical, Surgical, Cancer Care, Rehab, and later train to the Emergency Department (ED) and Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine Unit (PBMU). Staff can float between assignments as frequently as every four hours to meet the needs of our acute care units. Generally, we are given the same assignments as nurses that work on that unit with some clear restrictions.

The Ambulatory division is a collection of outpatient specialty clinics that supports multiple campus locations at regional sites. The RN residents will rotate to 2 or 3 separate clinics and work in collaboration with the multidisciplinary teams to provide nursing care during clinical visits and support for patients and families in their home environments. The RN residents will become experts in this nursing work including education on disease management, care coordination, connecting families with resources in the community for care at home, and telephone triage. At the completion of the residency program the nurse will be eligible for a variety of positions in the ambulatory setting.

The Cancer and Blood Disorder Center outpatient unit (CBDC outpt) serves children and young adults needing infusions that last less than 12 hours and have certain health conditions, including blood disorders, cancer, gastrointestinal problems, genetic disorders, immune system disorders, rheumatology disorders, and any other service line requiring an infusion. The nurse’s access portacaths, place PIV and PICC removal.

The Emergency Department (ED) manages the spectrum of mild to critically ill and injured patients from birth to age 21. Additionally, they support patients with mental health needs and work to arrange follow up care or placement for these children. All patients presenting to the ED seeking care receive a Medical Screening Exam (MSE), stabilization, evaluation, and treatment. Nursing care in the ED includes assessments, IV placement, portacath accessing, NG placement, procedural sedation, emergency resuscitation and much more.

Cardiac ICU
The Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) cares for newborns up to young adults with acquired and congenital heart disease. The CICU supports robust mechanical circulatory assist and cardiac transplant programs. Specialized care provided in the CICU includes cerebral oximetry monitoring, inhaled nitric oxide, temporary pacemakers, heart failure management, open chest procedures and continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT). Extracorporeal life support represents a highly specialized form of cardiopulmonary support that includes the use of ECMO and ventricular assist devices.

Neonatal ICU
The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is the only Level IV NICU in Washington. Patients in the NICU are neonates up to 50 weeks post-gestational age. Many of the patients have congenital diagnoses requiring specialized pre-operative surgical and postoperative surgical care. Critically ill neonates with complex medical issues are also cared for in this unit. Specialized care provided includes ECMO/ECLS, cooling, in-room surgical procedures, high frequency oscillatory ventilation, use of inhaled nitric oxide, etc.

Pediatric ICU
The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit cares for infants up to young adults with a wide range of clinical conditions. Examples of medical conditions include septic shock, acute and chronic respiratory failure, diabetic ketoacidosis, and metabolic diseases. Patients have a range of surgical and medical services including Neurosurgery, Solid Organ Transplant, Craniofacial/Plastics, Hematology/Oncology and Bone Marrow & Stem Cell Transplant patients. Specialized care provided in the PICU includes cerebral and renal oximetry monitoring, high frequency oscillatory ventilation, use of inhaled nitric oxide, continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) and intracranial pressure monitoring. This also includes extracorporeal life support (ECMO), highly specialized cardiopulmonary support.

The Psychiatric and Behavioral Medicine Unit (PBMU) is involved in the evaluation and behavioral stabilization of children (ages 4 through 17) with emotional, behavioral, and neuropsychiatric disorders. Depression, developmental delays, attention deficits, anxiety, pervasive developmental disorders, conduct disorders, oppositional-defiant disorders, anorexia/bulimia, and psychosis are among the disorders commonly diagnosed. The unit is also invested in treating children with unique concomitant problems such as hearing impairments, chronic medical illnesses, or physical developmental disabilities. The PBMU program utilizes a model of care that emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach. Care includes the provision of behavior management in a milieu setting; parent and patient education; group activities; supportive family and individual support; psychotropic medication management and limited medical nursing services.