Harborview Medical Center

Northgate     |      Harborview    |   Chelan Rural Training Track


Harborview Family Medicine

In 1997, the University of Washington started a second family medicine residency continuity clinic site at Harborview Medical Center. Harborview is a 368 bed, urban, county-owned and University-managed hospital in downtown Seattle that is nationally known for its world-class level 1 adult and pediatric trauma center serving four surrounding states, and its role as the most active safety net provider in the region. The addition of its Family Medicine Clinic is central to the role of the hospital as a provider of diverse healthcare and its commitment to provide continuity and high quality services to people of all racial and economic backgrounds.
Fun fact: this is the hospital that the show Grey’s Anatomy is based on!

Harborview’s strengths include a diverse patient population with about one-quarter Black, one-quarter White, one-quarter East African including Somali and Ethiopian immigrants, and one-quarter a mix of Southeast Asian immigrants, Hispanics, and other minorities. Harborview provides in-depth experience with a rich and diverse population that requires a strong interest in and dedication to the care of urban underserved. While challenging, the rewards earned from this population are many. Most importantly, the program prides itself in helping people who desperately need medical care, especially primary care. Both in-person and telephonic interpreters are frequently used in this clinic, with Spanish, Amharic, Tigrinya, Somali, and Vietnamese as the most common languages used by patients.

Residency Program

The Harborview Family Medicine Track accepts two residents per year, and matching is via a different match number than the Northgate or Chelan RTT program. The Harborview residents do their continuity clinics at the Family Medicine Clinic in Harborview’s modern outpatient-focused Patricia Steele Building, just three blocks from the main Harborview Medical Center.

More facts about Harborview Medical Center

  • Founded in 1877 as King County Hospital, a six-bed welfare hospital in a two-story south Seattle building
  • Largest single provider of AIDS care in King County
  • Only Level I adult and pediatric trauma and burn center in Washington, and also serves the states of Alaska, Idaho, and Montana.