Providence Portland Medical Center provides advanced, patient-centered care in one of Oregon's largest health care facilities. With more than 64,000 emergency room visits and 23,000 hospital admissions every year, PPMC continued to grow in 2008 with the opening of its new 11-tower state-of-the-art Cancer Center. This facility houses the Earle A. Chiles Research Institute, which is one of the nation's most prestigious cancer translational research centers that supports the efforts of internationally recognized scientists.
Other acclaimed centers include the Gamma Knife Center of Oregon, Child Center, Oregon Osteoporosis Center, Acute Rehabilitation Center, Arthritis Center, and Heart and Vascular Institute's Heart Center and Transplant Program. These and other resources for advanced treatments allow Providence Portland to provide tertiary care services for patients across Oregon and surrounding states. Many services do not exist in any other Portland healthcare facilities.
Although well versed in high technology, Providence Portland emphasizes that patients always comes first. Its mission statement echoes our patients' requests to "Know me, care for me, and ease my way." In response to these needs, health care programs are integrated across the inpatient and outpatient settings as patients receive personalized care in our community and home care services, large primary care physician network, and residency clinics. This integration requires seamless sharing of health care information between treatment sites, which is supported by comprehensive health information technology. In July 2008, Providence Portland was again named as one of the 100 Most Wired Hospital and Health Systems by the Hospitals & Health Networks magazine. Electronic medical records and computerized physician order entry exist both in inpatient and outpatient settings.
Our mission also requires highly trained and dedicated caregivers. Nurses at Providence Portland have been recognized as being among the nation's best with the hospital's designation as a Nursing Magnet Hospital. This recognition is bestowed upon an elite group of only 2% of American hospitals.
Being a leader in technology and patient-centered care also requires respect for patients' rights and recognition of the limitations of medical science's ability to cure. The Providence Center for Health Care Ethics is widely respected as a leader in clinical ethics consultations, palliative care education, and the promotion of diversity in healthcare. Other Providence Portland programs recognize the diversity of healthcare needs among our diverse population of patients. The Providence Women's Health program, Brain Institute, and Hospitalist Program ensure that patient care needs are recognized and addressed in systems of care that are high-quality, safe, and effective.
In support of these broad services, Medical Education trains the doctors of the future in an innovative environment that emphasizes life-long learning, evidence-based medicine, and professionalism. Many graduates of the Providence Portland residency program now serve as leaders in our 5-state health care system.
“The health system invests in cutting-edge technology and urges residents to provide input. Currently residents are piloting the tablet PC for accessing patient records at the bedside. I am working directly with Dr. Dick Gibson, IS Medical Director, on ProvExpert to create order sets for PPMC.” Michael Jernigan, M.D.
