Linda Wrede-Seaman, MD, FAAFP, FACEP, FAAHPM

Dr. Linda Seaman worked as a hospice medical director for Sisters of Providence’s Hospice of Yakima for a decade in the 1990’s. During those years, she also served two 3-year terms on the Board of Directors with an additional year on the Executive Committee for the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. AAHPM was the only professional organization representing physicians and advanced care practitioners in the developing field of hospice and palliative medicine. During that time she helped create and critique curriculum development, authored articles in medical specialty journals, as well as authored & published practical books to aid practicing health care professionals serving to improve end of life care. She was one of the first board certified physicians in the field through the American Board of Hospice & Palliative Medicine in 1997 and supported work with ABMS to create the specialty of hospice & palliative medicine. She remains a Fellow in the AAHPM. In 2009. Dr. Seaman was honored at her alma mater with the Commonwealth Award at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington, Kentucky, a prestigious award rarely given to medical alumni. The award honored her for her pioneering contributions to promote and create the medical specialty of palliative medicine, as well as for her ongoing work in patient advocacy in end of life care improvement.

Dr. Seaman currently balances work in primary care, practicing clinical family medicine, urgent care, and continues advocacy for improving end of life care. Through her membership with the WSMA, she and Dr. Stu Farber of the University of Washington spearheaded the development and institution of Washington State Medical Association's End of Life Consensus Coalition, a community based forum for all stakeholders in the state of Washington interested in improving end of life care. She chaired the committee for 2 years and served 20 years on the steering committee. During that tenure, the POLST State wide Task Force was created and charged with revising the Physician’s Order for Life Sustaining Treatment for the State every 1-2 years. Since 1991, Dr Seaman continues to enjoy teaching, consulting, and traveling to do advocacy work to improve ‘a good death’ for all.

With the beginning of an new osteopathic medical school in Yakima, Washington, Dr. Seaman developed and introduced an 11 week (33 hour) core curriculum for palliative care as a volunteer lecturer/faculty member for Pacific Northwest University Health Sciences Center for osteopathic medicine in 2009 for the second year of of its first class. The curriculum subsequently got absorbed into the Community Behavioral Health curriculum but she did an annual palliative care lecture on updates in the field, “ hot topics “ and facilitated an interview with a community physician who had a terminal illness. She was a guest lecturer for the PA-Medex program at the University of Washington, when housed in Yakima. She enjoys serving as a faculty advisor for the PNWU- CMDA student club and has been an officer for the Yakima Valley chapter of the national CMDA since 2010.

Dr. Seaman's passion remains in educating those in the field and cultivating ‘best practice’ outcomes for systems of care. Examples include work in the 1990s which lead to the use of pharmacists’ with prescriptive authority to optimize delivery of medications to patients in the home care arena. The study achieved 2 outcomes; improved pain relief for patients in their homes within 2 hours, and a physician satisfaction score of 5/5 for utilization the algorithmic model of care by the referring physicians to Hospice of Yakima. This lead to the publication of Symptom Management Algorithms: A Handbook for Palliative Care,  which is now in its 4th edition and will be released in April, 2019. The original work done in 1998 won the American Pharmacy Association award for innovative work. The handbook continues to be used in health care curriculum courses for end of life care around the US. Dr. Seaman also has done consulting for palliative care start up programs throughout the US and abroad.

Original publications in palliative care include:

Symptom Management Algorithms, A Handbook for Palliative Care, 4th edition ISBN 978 1 888411 22 5; 4th edition release, April, 2019.

Pediatric Pain and Symptom Management Algorithms for Palliative Care, 1st edition, ISBN 978 1 888411 15 5

Treating Symptoms of Pandemic Influenza: A Home Care Guide, 1st edition, ISBN 978 1 888411 21 8