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Nursing Specialties

Our position at the crossroads of urban and suburban communities provides a unique opportunity explore new specialties while serving the people who need your compassion and skill the most. Our nurses are vital to our mission in every department and every clinic.

We see about 80,000 patients during 500,000 visits each year, including in our 27 clinics and our 302-bed acute care hospital, which includes ICU, CVICU and telemetry. Our primary care, urgent care and care clinics depend on advance practice nurses, RNs and CNAs to care for our diverse patient population across the east side of the Portland metropolitan region.

When difficulties arose within my department, my voice was heard and the creative solutions I presented were embraced and supported. I am never afraid to share my thoughts because I know I will be heard and be treated fairly.

- Samantha Lancaster, RN, infusion services

Key specialties

Northwest Regional Heart & Vascular

Nurses in our flagship cardiovascular program, Northwest Regional Heart & Vascular, care for patients who come from all over the western U.S. for care from some of the country’s top heart surgeons and cardiologists. They also help staff our cardiology program in McMinnville.

Our Portland program includes a state-of-the-art cath lab and 12-bed CVICU. We were the first hospital in the area to incorporate universal beds into our cardiac program to increase patient safety and satisfaction.

Emergency room

Emergency care is at the heart of our mission to care for our diverse, urban community. Our ER includes 32 rooms.

Our location near the junction of two major freeways centers us in “heart attack alley,” according to a local EMS director. That means we see more cardiac arrests than the next two area hospitals combined.

Surgical services

Our surgery department includes 11 operating rooms and provides a comprehensive range of surgical specialties, including offering minimally invasive and Da Vinci robot procedures when appropriate. We perform more than 6,200 surgeries annually in our main OR alone.

Surgical specialties include:

  • Bariatric
  • Cardiovascular, including open heart, minimally invasive and robotic
  • Ear, nose and throat
  • GI
  • Gynecological
  • Neurological
  • Ophthalmological
  • Orthopedic
  • Peripheral vascular
  • Thoracic
  • Urological

Family Birth Place and women’s health

As a labor and delivery nurse, you know how fast things can change. And when things change and challenges arise, it’s great to know you’re surrounded by a team as ready to support you as you are ready to help them. That’s how our Family Birth Place functions.

Our single room model of care means parents keep the same room for labor, birthing, recovery and postpartum. The unit includes 24 beds and a Level 1 nursery with OHSU teleNICU support for neonatal stabilization before transport. We typically have 400–500 deliveries per year and also care for a variety of gynecology patients.

Critical care

Our med/surg ICU has 12 beds. Our nurses are supported by a 1:1 or 1:2 nurse/patient ratio, constant observers as needed and continuous patient monitoring through OHSU’s virtual ICU program.

Advanced Practice Nursing

Advanced practice nurses are vital providers in our clinics and medical center. These master’s- and doctorate-prepared RNs certified by a national organization, granted expanded scope of practice by the Oregon State Board of Nursing and credentialed and privileged by the OHSU Credentialing Board. Our APNs include nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives, clinical nurse specialists and certified registered nurse anesthetists.

Clinic nursing

Our primary, specialty and urgent care clinics offer a variety of opportunities for clinic nursing.

Other nursing areas