Swedish Family Medicine

Swedish Hospital & Medical Center
Categories: Hospitals, Medical Centers
Neighborhood: First Hill
Update - 11/6/2011
The following is a review of Swedish Hospital Physical Therapy:

About eleven years ago I first went here because of shoulder pain. The UW Sports Clinic had been of very little help at all. I don't recall the name of the person I saw at the time but she was very nice.

About half a year ago I was able to wrangle a referral from the resident I was seeing at Swedish Family Medicine. I was in deep, traumatic neurological pain from the shingles that I had contracted.

Luckily I was able to see Carolyn McManus at the Physical Therapy Clinic. Unfailingly kind, gracious, and wise, Carolyn helped me over the six weeks I saw her to relieve the pain using her skills both as a physical therapist and as a practitioner of meditation.

She also gave me two CD's in which she herself guides patients through guided deep breathing, relaxation, and inner self-talk, which I use away from home with my MP-3 player when I feel anxious, stressed, and want to block out unpleasant environmental stimuli such as loud, obnoxious (narcissistic ~ exhibitionist) people, of whom there is no shortage in our fair city.
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1/6/2011
[The following is a review of Swedish Family Medicine. It was written well before the Time magazine cover story in March 2011 on "Chronic Pain"].

During the summer of 2010 I contracted shingles which turned into postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). I am not sure why my illness was not treated seriously or that the serious risks of contracting were not explained to me.

But the attitude so laissez-faire + blase: "Just take this prescription to the pharmacy and take it for a week. If it doesn't get better, come back." Again and again.

The unspoken assumption: "This will work on you because this is supposed to work." This will work against you as a patient because the resident (freshly minted med school grad) will not be as interested in hearing you recount details of your response to treatment as in trying to fit the "square peg" of your experience into their own theoretical, book-learned "round hole."

"This really hurts."

"But it's not supposed to. You need some time to adjust..."

"It's gotten a lot lot worse in the past few weeks."

"It's really not getting any better? You're stooped over in pain? It seems we have tried you on several medications. This is a really difficult disease."

Now five months after the eruption of shingles, I am in excruciating, constant pain that makes standing, bending down, or walking a few steps to the bathroom hellish.

In retrospect, I think that pain was grossly under-treated. I guess I would have had to weep--hard for a guy--or run around naked--not much easier--in the reception area.

Also, I was lulled into a false sense of security, when in fact the risk of neuropathy was clearly real. (Usually, neuropathic problems are not fully reversible, but partial improvement is often possible with proper treatment).

And I would have to add that it was a real battle to get a referral to a neurologist.

One might easily believe that some of the staff believe that "if it's not your [their] own suffering and pain, it's not that important asking if the pain is the same, better, or getting worse."

After all, the residents (physicians) are "learning the ropes," i.e., trying to apply "the rules" to individual cases even if that means a certain distortion or inability "to see the forest through the trees."

To use an analogy, it is like being taught by a graduate teaching assistant, eager, idealistic, and well-meaning, but lacking in judgment and inexperienced. They have in mind the success rate in clinical trials of a certain drug, but patients are people, and people are individuals, not statistics.

In sum, the Swedish Family Medicine Clinic is O.K. for routine health matters but for more serious health concerns, no...getting stuck there may be like being in purgatory.

No doctor is omniscient. It is you that has the condition--the doctors are making educated guesses as to what may work for you.

Be informed, assertive, and take notes of your meetings! If a medication is not working--even though "it's supposed to" because it works for most people--tell your doctor the truth.

* * * * *

On a positive, more upbeat note, the "My Chart" which allows patients to communicate with their medical team is functioning well after two years in which responses to queries were often not received.

Moreover, Dr. Wilson was more than willing to take the time from his busy residency to speak with me on the phone when he could, answer my emails, and provide documentation for acupuncture treatment to my health provider. For these and other matters, I am very grateful to him.

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12/1/2008
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My "beef" has to do with their policy regarding being late to an appointment.

I was 15 minutes late today and was told I would have to re-schedule.

The receptionist went back to the doctor & nurse area to see if they would see me. She came back ten minutes later and said "no, you'll have to re-schedule," which I did.

This is the same person who, the time before last, forgot to let them know I had checked in. I waited 25 minutes before the nurse, luckily, came out to see if I was there. He told me they had no idea I was in the waiting area.

There have been plenty of times in the past I have waited close to an hour, as the "doctor is [was] running late."

Since the doctors are often 20+ minutes late in seeing a patient, I don't see why when a client is late 15 minutes (due to riding Metro, famous for being punctual, by the way), why the inequality?

Next time I'll be more assertive (?).

* * * * *

In defense of Swedish Family Medicine, I will have to say that many, if not most, of the residents have been nicer and more communicative than some of the specialists I have seen.

* * * * *

Two days later I went back to Swedish Family. This time I was there 7 minutes early. I was seen 50 minutes after my scheduled appointment time, 20 minutes later than when I had arrived late that other day and been subsequently turned away.

You figure.

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10/16/2007
A review of the Family Medicine Clinic (at the corner of Broadway and East Madison:

Although my health insurance is limited--and thus allows me to be seen only by the interns--I have been very satisfied with the treatment I have received here over the past eight years. I have always felt respected here.

I have had a colonoscopy done here, had my ulcerative colitis diagnosed here, undergone minor surgery for the removal of a toenail, and had physical therapy as well. Referrals to the specialty clinics of the main hospital, e.g., physical therapy, are done here as well.

The doctors, nurses, and other staff seem genuinely concerned about their patients' health and work hard to maintain high standards. At Swedish Family Medicine, I have always felt that the doctors and nurses worked with me in a spirit of cooperation and trust.

Everyone seems to be almost always very busy but, still, on top of things.

Five or six years ago the time spent waiting was long--sometimes up to 45 minutes past the time of a scheduled appointment , but this has improved lately. The nurses get back to patients in a timely manner.

Scheduling an appointment requires some patience, as their phones seem to always be busy. And it does seem to take an inordinate amount of time for them to approve requests for refills from one's pharmacy--three to four days, which is disappointing.

And the receptionists speak quietly so the waiting area is a soothing experience.