About Abbott Northwestern Hospital
Abbott Northwestern is part of Minneapolis-based Allina Health System which is an integrated health care system comprised of physicians, 11 hospitals, and 61 clinics serving communities throughout Minnesota, western Wisconsin, and eastern North and South Dakota. Abbott Northwestern provides care for the largest number of adult patients in the Twin Cities metro area and has 700 active physicians on its staff. The entire medical complex is also the largest in the Twin Cities, occupying six city blocks near downtown Minneapolis. It includes the Sister Kenny Institute for physical rehabilitation and the adjacent Children's Hospitals and Clinics - Minneapolis facility. In February 2005, a major new addition created an integrated Heart, Neurology, Orthopedics, and Spine Hospital that also allowed us to have mostly private rooms throughout the entire hospital. A complete computerized patient record (Epic Systems) that integrates inpatient and outpatient records throughout our hospital and clinic system began in 2004. Alllina received the 2007 national award for the best care system implementation of an electronic patient record.
As a major affiliate of the University of Minnesota Medical School, Abbott Northwestern participates in resident and student education in Internal Medicine and at least 10 other medical specialties. In addition, we are a participating institution with the University of Minnesota Cardiology, Gastroenterology, and Infectious Disease fellowships. Our Internal Medicine residents are involved in the care of approximately 125 of the inpatients on campus at any one time.
Our Patients
Our inpatients represent a unique mix of cultures and socioeconomics and have a range of health care problems that is broader than would be found in most other teaching hospitals. Approximately one-third of our patients come from outside the Twin Cities metro area. Another large and important patient group comes from the hospital's multicultural, lower socioeconomic, inner-city neighborhood. These patients may enter our system through our busy Emergency Department or through our on-campus outpatient clinic. Inpatients on the Residents' Service include the hospital's most interesting and complex patients, although common primary care medical problems are also well represented. Our residents also help care for surgical, obstetrical, psychiatric and rehabilitation patients with internal medicine complications. This important additional experience adds to our residents' breadth of experience.
