Our Mission

The mission of the OHSU Trauma Center is to provide the highest quality, cost-effective care to critically injured trauma patients throughout Oregon and surrounding states. This mission is accomplished through the extraordinary commitment of the trauma surgeons, emergency medicine, physicians, nursing, and hundreds of physician sub-specialists and ancillary personnel. OHSU fulfills its mission of excellence in trauma care through a comprehensive program of research, residency and fellowship programs, nursing, rural provider education, community outreach/prevention activities, and a comprehensive quality improvement plan.  

Research

The OHSU Trauma Center has an active clinical and basic science research program which continues to bring groundbreaking innovation to the care of trauma patients. Researchers at OHSU have provided unprecedented evidence that trauma system development and implementation improves the outcomes of trauma patients. Other researchers are actively involved in evaluating and improving the outcome of patients with severe traumatic brain injury and hemorrhagic shock. Clinical trials of new therapies and medical devices are ongoing through the OHSU Trauma Center.

Education

The OHSU Trauma Center is actively involved in the education of interns and residents, as well as medical, nursing, and pharmacy students in trauma care, while the OHSU Division of Trauma, Critical Care and Acute Care Surgery offers a fully accredited Surgical Critical Care fellowship. In addition to our ongoing medical education program, the Trauma Center sponsors the annual Northwest States Trauma Conference which provides trauma educational opportunities for physicians, nurses, paramedics, and other healthcare providers from rural areas in Oregon and surrounding states. The Trauma Center also hosts Advanced Trauma Life Support courses. Our trauma surgeons, Emergency Medicine physicians and nurses travel throughout Oregon providing dozens of trauma case reviews, lectures, and the Rural Trauma Team Development Course for referring hospitals and their staff.

Community Outreach and Injury Prevention Activities

The OHSU Trauma Center is committed to reaching out to the surrounding community through injury prevention education and interventions. The Trauma Center collaborates with the OHSU Brain Institute's ThinkFirst Oregon to sponsor community health fairs and bike helmet distribution programs, working to reduce the risk of brain and spinal cord injury. Our injury prevention program recently launched Matter of Balance, an 8-week fall prevention course for older adults. Matter of Balance classes are held throughout the Portland metropolitan area in senior centers and assisted living facilities as an effort to decrease the rate of ground level falls in the elderly. Learn more about Matter of Balance