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What are the strengths of the Providence Portland Medical Center (PPMC) training program?
High-quality faculty. Unique teaching and mentoring experiences. Innovative curriculum. And, of course, our fabulous residents. Academic rigor, self-motivation and an inquisitive, evidence-based medicine approach, combined with individual and tailored support, makes Providence Portland an ideal residency program in which to prepare for an internal medicine career.
What makes PPMC residents special?
- Diversity of backgrounds
- Commitment to serving the underserved
- Excellent performance on ABIM certifying exam (100% nine-year rolling pass rate)
- Multiple state and national awards at the American College of Physicians Associates' Competition
- True sense of caring and of enjoying each other and the practice of medicine
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What are some of the unique or special experiences offered to our residents?
- Strong academic environment
- Emphasis on residents as scholars/teachers
- Constant presence of medical students
- Journal club presentations
- Research projects
- Emphasis on one-to-one teaching (residents/residents and residents/attendings)
- Multiple options for continuity experiences
- Continuously evolving curriculum
- Women's health
- Evidence-based medicine
- Population-based health
- Hospitalist Medicine
- End-of-Life/Palliative Care
- Opportunities to focus on advanced areas
- Faculty-resident advisor groups
- Each resident is linked to a faculty advisor/mentor who follows his or her progress throughout the entire residency and helps plan life and career after residency. Residents are linked not only with their advisors but also to other residents from all three years. This group meets several times a year, outside of the hospital environment, to talk about residency-related issues.
- Resident retreats
- Annual professional development day for all residents
- Connection to the community
- Partnership with Portland Public Schools
- Exchange program with Moi University in Kenya
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What makes PPMC faculty special?
- Leadership in national organizations
- President American Thoracic Society, 2007
- President, Infectious Diseases Society of America, 2002
- President, American Geriatrics Society, 2001-2002
- Secretary-Treasurer of ABIM Board of Governors, 2002-2004
- Board of Directors, ABIM, Current
- Involvement in writing ABIM certifying exams
- Wide variety publication in major journals and books
- Faculty are active clinicians
- Most importantly, a strong focus on resident education and a desire to teach
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What about autonomy at PPMC?
The balance between resident autonomy and supervision is critical. Residents must become comfortable making independent decisions. Our residents formulate their own opinions and are the only ones to write orders on their patients. We believe supervision is important but primarily a support for resident decision-making. Our goal is to train residents to think for themselves, ask questions, go to the literature to answer clinical questions, and work with others in a multidisciplinary team approach.
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What are a few recent innovations in the residency program?
- New Advanced Focus Areas
- ICU Night Float
- Expanded Palliative Care experience
- Procedure Rotation
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What makes PPMC a great place to train?
- The hospital is both a tertiary referral hospital for Oregon and Washington and a primary care facility for northeast Portland.
- The full gamut of clinical services is available:
- 24/7 acute coronary intervention
- Heart transplantation
- Endoscopic surgery
- Gamma knife resection
- Hyperbaric unit
- The hospital and its staff provide care in an efficient, state-of-the-art and compassionate manner.
- PPMC serves a broad diversity of patients.
- The hospital has cutting-edge information systems, including computerized physician order entry.
- Training in a single site fosters camaraderie among faculty, residents and nurses.
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What is the impact of training in a Catholic hospital?
The Providence mission is to serve with a commitment to five core values: respect for the dignity of others, compassion, justice, excellence and stewardship. While the faculty, residents and staff bring a diverse set of spiritual beliefs to the program, we all embrace these core values. This translates into caring for people regardless of their background and regardless of their insurance status or financial situation.
The mission of serving others helps residents focus on the spirit of helping each other and their patients. There is an atmosphere of caring and support at PPMC that is truly exceptional and embodies what it means to be a physician.
Questions are often asked about reproductive counseling. The Providence Ambulatory Care and Education (PACE) Center, where all residents and Medical Education faculty practice, counsels patients on all aspects of birth control and abortion. We provide birth control and emergency contraception and refer out for abortions if indicated. We feel it is important that all patients make the contraceptive choices that are best for them and their family.
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Do I get to work with medical students?
Yes. Medical students in their third and fourth years are constantly present on the wards and in the ICU. Our interns and residents play an active role in medical student education, and we feel that medical students' presence enhances resident education.
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Will all my training occur at PPMC?
The vast majority of your rotations occur at PPMC, which helps foster the camaraderie of the residents as they all work together on a regular basis. However, senior residents also rotate on the inpatient service at the Portland VA Medical Center. Residents may also elect a rotation at another academic institution, and residents planning for fellowship often take advantage of this opportunity. In addition, residents have the opportunity for an overseas elective. We feel that the perspective added by working in a developing country is a wonderful supplement to residency training, so every year a few of our residents spend one rotation block in Eldoret, Kenya.
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Is there collegiality amongst the residents?
Yes! The program size enables all residents to quickly form friendships and support systems. Residents frequently socialize outside the hospital with both Chief-Resident planned events (“First Fridays”, where the residents and their significant others/families get together for pizza) and non-residency directed gatherings. Residents report frequent social events (birthday parties, BBQs, hiking, biking, golfing, etc.) and groups have formed for regular yoga, book clubs, knitting, etc. We encourage you to read the biographies on our residents which note their outside interests and also speak directly with as many of them as you can if you come to interview at Providence Portland Medical Center.
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Do I get the opportunity to work with residents from other specialties or residency programs?
Our residents routinely work with house staff from Providence Milwaukie’s Family Practice Residency Program who regularly rotates on our ward service and in the ICU. Each month a different senior internal medicine resident from OHSU rotates on the wards here at PPMC. OHSU infectious disease fellows rotate at our hospital and residents also interact with OHSU geriatric fellows during the clinic portion of their geriatrics rotation. While the residents at our program develop a strong group bond with long-lasting friendships, these interactions provide bonus opportunities for a more expansive peer group.
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