SCH is one of the larger pediatric residency programs, but most residents will agree it doesn’t feel big. We all know each other well and feel supported by one another. The benefit of a larger program is that there is always someone willing to cover a shift for you. We also have enough residents for back-up call, making it easy if a resident has to call in sick or has something come up. 

The REACH (Resident Education Advocacy for Child Health) Pathway has two tracks, one in which residents spend two months in Kisii, Kenya and one in which residents spend two months in Toppenish, WA during their third year. This track allows for dedicated time and structured learning about global and domestic health for two months in their second year. 

Other residents take advantage of call free electives to set up their own global health experiences. We also have a Global Health Interest Group lead by residents. 

Our program encourages residents to pursue all their research interests – from bench research, to quality improvement, ethics, and everything in between. Each resident presents a Resident Capstone Presentation (RCP) in their third year of residency, but it can really be about anything of interest. If your goal is to participate in research during residency, SCH will support you. There is a research interest group that meets monthly to discuss research interests and put residents in touch with mentors. The addition of the Research APD has allowed this process to become more streamlined in recent years.

Seattle Children’s Hospital is a large referral center which means residents see a lot and learn through doing. But the program also wants to protect resident time. In recent years, the hospital has hired Advanced Practice Providers (or APPs) to carry patients on many of our inpatient services to offload volume and protect resident learning. In general, residents typically carry 3-8 patients.

We also have care coordinators on our inpatient teams who help with administrative tasks, like setting up follow-up appointments and obtaining outside records. This means residents have more time to focus on their patient’s medical care.

As mentioned under Perks, residents do have free parking at the Seattle Children’s Hospital. The hospital is also located along a bike path (the Burke Gilman) and numerous bus routes, so many residents choose to bike or run to work, or take public transportation. There are plenty of covered bike racks, including a locked bike cage to leave your bike during the day. Residents also receive a FREE ORCA card (public transportation pass) to use local buses and the light link rail (commuter train that runs from south of Sea-Tac airport, through downtown Seattle, Capitol Hill, across the street UWMC Montlake, and all the way up to Northgate). 

Parking is not provided at UW or Harborview during regular working hours, but residents can get an access card for pay-per-use parking at a reduced rate. There is free parking on nights and weekends at UW. A free shuttle runs from SCH to UW if residents want to park at SCH. Both UW and Harborview also have bike racks and are along public transportation routes.

Residents are assigned to a continuity clinic where they go approximately once per week. Some of them are located in Seattle, within a few miles of the main campus and along bus routes. There are a few sites that are further from the city and require a car. Residents complete a survey after match day to rank their continuity clinic preferences and can specify if hey they don’t have a car.

The majority of residents here have cars, or at least one car in their household. Seattle is pretty commuter and bike friendly, but most people use cars to explore the surrounding areas on the weekend. That being said, residents definitely make it work without cars. It is pretty doable in Seattle but can get a little trickier during WWAMI. Residents in the past have rented or borrowed cars to get to their WWAMI site.

Seattle has a bad reputation for the rain. However, the average rainfall is less than many other major cities, including Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. But don’t tell the others! The days in the winter can be short (given how far north we are) but it does mean that residents are happy to spend the summer months basking in the average 25 days a month of sunshine.

Yes, there are many nearby mountains for hiking, BUT there are also tons of other things to do. There was always a sports game (Seahawks/Sounders/Mariners/Kraken) to go to, a new coffee shop/restaurant to explore, and lots of local farmer’s markets, museums, and theatre. 

There is great opportunity for dog watching–there are about 50,000 more dogs than children in Seattle, don’t worry though the hospital is plenty busy.

We’ll let you decide! Here are some thoughts from two current residents:

“As a resident from the west coast, I think it is! (I went to school on the east coast, so I feel like I am allowed to comment). There is no time of year here where it hurts your face to go outside, and it is so beautiful!”

“As a resident who has always lived on the east coast, I have loved living in Seattle. It is more difficult to travel home to my family on the east coast, but I feel lucky to have my residency family and a network of friends in the Pacific Northwest.”