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General Questions

  • What jobs have former Residents taken after completing a Residency at Swedish?
  • What kinds of protocols do the pharmacists have?
  • How is the department growing?
  • How is the Institution growing?
  • What is the weather like in Seattle? Does it really rain all year long? What is there to do in Seattle?

What jobs have former Residents taken after completing a Residency at Swedish?

Former Residents have taken positions in both clinical practice and academic/faculty settings. Many former Residents now work in clinical pharmacy practice areas in inpatient (i.e. transplant, oncology, pediatrics, psychiatry, critical care, internal medicine, etc.), retail, and ambulatory care (i.e. MTM, anticoagulation, etc.) settings including the few that have stayed on at Swedish (see current preceptor list for past residents). A few have gone onto PGY2 Residency Programs such as ambulatory care, critical care, emergency medicine, oncology, pediatrics, and solid organ transplant.

What kinds of protocols do the pharmacists have?

The Patient Care Area Pharmacists (PCAPs) are decentralized on the medical floors and have full prescriptive authority through collaborative drug therapy agreements (CDTAs) in select antibiotics (i.e. vancomycin, aminoglycosides), adult renal adjustment dosing, anticoagulation therapy (i.e. warfarin, heparin infusion, argatroban, bivalirudin), total parenteral nutrition, antiepileptics (i.e. phenytoin, valproic acid), IV to PO, vaccinations, and anemia management. In the ambulatory care setting, the PCAPs have protocol authority in both the anticoagulation clinics and in the family practice clinics.

How is the department growing?

Ever since our program began in 2003, we have added many new acute care services (Antimicrobial Stewardship, liver/pancreas/stem cell transplantation, glycemic control, telemetry, orthopedics), expanded our ICU (SICU, MICU, CVICU, Neurology ICU, PICU), Investigational Drug Service, and oncology services, and added new clinics including those created by our own PGY1 residents (Anticoagulation, Transplant Clinic, Geriatric Clinic, Swedish Medical Group Clinics, and CHF clinic). We also added new positions such as pre-admit, surgery center, 340B, medication safety, and pre-authorizations. Just recently, we have added pharmacotherapy clinic specializing in multiple sclerosis, rheumatology, bone health, and migraine treatments along with several system wide emergency medicine positions. Lastly each our campuses have remodeled their IV rooms to new 797 standards with both the First Hill and Ballard pharmacies moving to brand new 797-compliant, 800-compliant locations.

How is the Institution growing?

In June 2008, First Hill campus opened a new 11-floor 84-patient bed Orthopedic Institute to provide the full spectrum of orthopedic care from joint and spine surgery to surgeries on hands, feet, shoulders, elbows and other bones in the body. In fall 2010, Swedish and Stevens Hospital partnered to increase access to health care in South Snohomish County and enhance the quality of care and reduce costs in the community, creating the Edmonds Campus location. In fall 2011, Swedish opened a new full service hospital in Issaquah complete with inpatient and clinic services. In February 2012, Swedish and Providence Health & Services announced an affiliation to improve health care quality, access and affordability for residents of Western Washington. In April 2008, Swedish upgraded to Epic, an electronic medical record (EMR) system and in February 2009, the hospital and all Swedish clinics converted to computerized physician order entry (CPOE). In March 2012, barcoding medication administration was implemented across all campuses to improve patient safety. In September 2014, Edmonds built a new 2-floor facility housing a new Emergency Department, urgent care center, observation unit, dedicated behavoiral health unit, and outpatient diagnostic imaging unit. In addition, plans for a new cardiac tower and emergency room with surgical suites are delayed until 2021 on First Hill.

What is the weather like in Seattle? Does it really rain all year long? What is there to do in Seattle?

Seattle has mild temperatures, ranging from 30 to 75 degrees throughout the year. It does rain frequently but not heavily so having an umbrella on hand is highly recommended. Seattle is rich in arts, sports, cultures, great outdoors and technology. Please see the Seattle City Government web page for details.