UW Medical Center - Northwest (formerly Northwest Hospital & Medical Center) is a 281-bed hospital in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. It was built in 1960 and became part of the

UW Medicine The University of Washington School of Medicine (UWSOM) is a large public medical school in the northwest United States, located in Seattle and affiliated with the University of Washington. According to ''U.S. News & World Report''s 2022 Best Grad ...

system in 2010.Kyung M. Song
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009888770_webuwhospital18m.html
''Seattle Times'', September 17, 2009. Accessed online 2009-11-09. Prior to the merger, a 1997 agreement had already made Northwest the home for a UW Medicine

cardiac surgery Cardiac surgery, or cardiovascular surgery, is surgery on the heart or great vessels performed by cardiac surgeons. It is often used to treat complications of ischemic heart disease (for example, with coronary artery bypass grafting); to co ...

program.

History

In 1949, the "Community Memorial" Hospital Association purchased a tract in North Seattle."Our History", MEDinfo (Northwest Hospital & Medical Center), September–October 2010 (50th Anniversary Edition), p. 6–7. Northwest Hospital opened in 1960, as the city's northernmost hospital. In 1965 the hospital acquired a

radioisotope A radionuclide (radioactive nuclide, radioisotope or radioactive isotope) is a nuclide that has excess nuclear energy, making it unstable. This excess energy can be used in one of three ways: emitted from the nucleus as gamma radiation; transferr ...

magna scanner, and over the rest of the 1960s they established a comprehensive rehabilitation program (1967), an inhalation therapy department (1967), a program for hearing disorders (1968), and a

stroke A stroke is a disease, medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemorr ...

center (1969). In 1970, they were the first Seattle hospital with a birth clinic offering the use of a single "birth suite" for

labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

, delivery, recovery, and

postpartum The postpartum (or postnatal) period begins after childbirth and is typically considered to end within 6 weeks as the mother's body, including hormone levels and uterus size, returns to a non-pregnant state. The terms puerperium, puerperal pe ...

care. The 1970s saw physical expansion of the emergency department (1973), the opening of a department of

nuclear medicine Nuclear medicine or nucleology is a medical specialty involving the application of radioactive substances in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. Nuclear imaging, in a sense, is " radiology done inside out" because it records radiation emi ...

(1971), and the 1977 establishment of the Northwest Hospital Foundation. Physical expansion continued in the 1980s with a new tower building (1983). In 1985, Northwest Hospital physicians pioneered the

ultrasound Ultrasound is sound waves with frequencies higher than the upper audible limit of human hearing. Ultrasound is not different from "normal" (audible) sound in its physical properties, except that humans cannot hear it. This limit varies ...

-guided installation of a

radioactive Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is consi ...

"seed" implant to treat

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that su ...

. In 1993 they were the region's first hospital to offer the non-surgical

gamma knife Radiosurgery is surgery using radiation, that is, the destruction of precisely selected areas of tissue using ionizing radiation rather than excision with a blade. Like other forms of radiation therapy (also called radiotherapy), it is usually ...

technique of treating

brain tumor A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and seco ...

s. In the 2000s, the emergency department expanded yet again (2001), and Northwest continued to adopt pioneering technologies such as minimally invasive surgical techniques, DynaCT

angiogram Angiography or arteriography is a medical imaging technique used to visualize the inside, or lumen, of blood vessels and organs of the body, with particular interest in the arteries, veins, and the heart chambers. Modern angiography is performe ...

technology (2005, another regional first), and

robotic surgery Robotic surgery are types of surgical procedures that are done using robotic systems. Robotically assisted surgery was developed to try to overcome the limitations of pre-existing minimally-invasive surgical procedures and to enhance the capabi ...

(2007). They began to use

electronic medical record An electronic health record (EHR) is the systematized collection of patient and population electronically stored health information in a digital format. These records can be shared across different health care settings. Records are shared thro ...

s and bedside medication reconciliation in 2007; that same year they converted to all-digital

mammography Mammography (also called mastography) is the process of using low-energy X-rays (usually around 30 kVp) to examine the human breast for diagnosis and screening. The goal of mammography is the early detection of breast cancer, typically through ...

. A

sleep center Sleep is a sedentary state of mind and body. It is characterized by altered consciousness, relatively inhibited sensory activity, reduced muscle activity and reduced interactions with surroundings. It is distinguished from wakefulness by a de ...

opened in 2008. In 2011, work began on the region's first

proton beam therapy In medicine, proton therapy, or proton radiotherapy, is a type of particle therapy that uses a beam of protons to irradiate diseased tissue, most often to treat cancer. The chief advantage of proton therapy over other types of external beam ra ...

center for cancer treatment. 2009 saw the introduction of

hyperbaric oxygen therapy Hyperbaric medicine is medical treatment in which an ambient pressure greater than sea level atmospheric pressure is a necessary component. The treatment comprises hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), the medical use of oxygen at an ambient pressure ...

. Physical expansion also continued with the enlargement of the hospital's surgical facility in 2010. In 2020, Northwest Hospital merged with the University of Washington Medical Center (UWMC). After the UW Medicine merger, Northwest remained a separate

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

tax-exempt Tax exemption is the reduction or removal of a liability to make a compulsory payment that would otherwise be imposed by a ruling power upon persons, property, income, or transactions. Tax-exempt status may provide complete relief from taxes, redu ...

entity. The same year, the hospital adopted the new name UW Medical Center - Northwest.

Healthgrades ratings

The Healthgrades website provides much rating information about this hospital. Only two sets of ratings are examined here. This hospital was rated on thirteen patient safety indicators. Northwest Hospital received one worse than average ranking, ten average rankings and two better than average rankings. A number of patient experience measures are presented in Healthgrades, based on post experience surveys filled out by patients. All but two were within a few points of the national average of all patient experience surveys. The exceptions were: * Room nighttime quiet - 45% of respondents for this hospital vs. 60% nationally * Patient would definitely recommend this hospital 77% of respondents vs. 70% nationally

Notes

External links

UW Medical Center - Northwest
official site {{authority control Hospital buildings completed in 1960 Hospitals in Seattle Hospitals established in 1960 1960 establishments in Washington (state)