Purdue School of Nursing receives Sigma Theta Tau International clinical partnership award
Written by By Chris Adam
The Purdue University School of Nursing, in partnership with the North Central Nursing Clinics, received the 2017 Sigma Theta Tau International Clinical Partnership Award. The partnership helps ensure access to primary health care for patients in rural areas of north central Indiana.
The award from the honor society of nursing recognizes and honors clinical facilities “that have demonstrated commitment in promoting quality in health care, promoting professional nursing as demonstrated by the development of nurse leaders, and has shown excellence in health care outcomes.”
Strong clinic partnerships
School of Nursing and NCNC have a history of partnering to meet primary health care needs in rural communities. The first clinic opened in Delphi in 1995, followed by a clinic in Monon in 2006. Two new community health clinic sites opened in 2016, essentially doubling the outreach capacity of the partnership. The clinics provide over 15,000 patient encounters annually and reach an underserved population, including many who are uninsured or underinsured.
The clinics are unique in several aspects. First, they are nurse-led and part of an academic-practice partnership with the School of Nursing. Second, NCNC has achieved Patient Centered Medical Home Status level II, demonstrating its dedication to improving quality of care to patients, lowering health care costs and improving the overall experience for patients with their primary care provider. Finally, the NCNC clinics have a well-developed program that engages in evidence-based practice and performance measurement and improvement to improve patient satisfaction and health outcomes.
“I think one of the areas where we really excel is our very strong approach to quality improvement,” says Jim Layman, executive director of Purdue Nursing Clinics. “We make data-driven decisions to improve our practice.”
One very visible example of the dedication to continuous improvement is the daily morning huddle. Every morning, prior to patient appointments, the clinic staff meets to anticipate care needs. They also distribute assignments and discuss safer work practices.
Jane Kirkpatrick, professor emerita and interim head of the School of Nursing, says the partnership between the School of Nursing and NCNC is extraordinary.
“Stakeholders, including members of the Clinic Board — with patients accounting for 51 percent of the members — are delighted with the benefits realized from the student projects,” she says. “Faculty and employers of the nursing students are impressed with the level of leadership and repertoire of quality improvement skills possessed by graduates of the programs.”
The clinics were recognized in 2016 with the Outstanding Quality and Service award from MDwise, a health plan that works with the state of Indiana and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in support of the Hoosier Healthwise, Healthy Indiana Plan, Hoosier Care Connect, and MDwise Marketplace health insurance programs.
“All of these achievements and recognition are a direct result of the translational leadership demonstrated by the team of providers in concert with nursing faculty and students as they collaborated on multiple projects to support the care received by the clinic patients,” Kirkpatrick says.
Unique opportunities for students and patients
As a central part of the academic partnership, students from the School of Nursing observe and learn alongside nurse practitioners, registered nurses, medical assistants, and office support staff at the clinics. Nursing faculty partner with the clinical staff to deliver care, and many serve as preceptors for graduate pediatric, adult gerontology and family nurse practitioner students.
“What an incredible benefit and opportunity for our nursing students,” says Suzan Overholser, director of operations of Purdue Nursing Clinics. “One of the very first experiences for many of the students is the exposure to the world of underserved populations. This is not like a hospital setting, where you have a separate pharmacy and other separate units to handle specific medical functions. Here, students must think through the best ways to treat patients through the complete encounter, including those with limited or no access to transportation or pharmacies.”
Overholser says the clinical settings provide opportunities for nursing students to work in interdisciplinary teams, such as consulting with pharmacists and nutritionists to ensure the best possible patient outcomes. Students from engineering, public health and other disciplines also work together to foster the development of quality health care delivery systems.
Kirkpatrick adds that leadership skills and collegial professional relationships are fostered by these partnerships.
“This is a win-win situation for our students and for the patients,” Overholser says. “We are able to offer more options to the patients. If we did not have the academic partnership with Purdue, the patients would not have access to many advanced medical resources such as innovative pharmaceutical treatments. Students have been instrumental in many of our quality improvement initiatives, as well.”
While patients have the choice to opt out of involving a student in their care, most make the decision to allow the future medical professional to be involved.
“Most patients enjoy having that extra person in the room as we train the next generation of nurses and nurse practitioners,” Layman says. “They appreciate the student interaction and patients recognize that we are all really taking an interest in providing the best care possible.”
Layman says the students also benefit from building connections with the patients over the course of several visits during their learning time at the clinics.
Community connections
According to Overholser, the clinics have received overwhelming support from the rural communities where they are located. The communities have invested in the facilities and some startup costs to ensure the health care presence in their areas.
“We have felt very welcomed in these communities,” she says. “They now have local primary care again, sometimes after the only doctor in town left. We are bringing health care to where people live, so they do not have to take a day off work or off school to travel for primary care.”
Kirkpatrick says the importance of the provision of top-quality primary health care in rural communities cannot be overstated.
“For the addition of the fourth clinic in 2016, the town council and the area economic and community development corporation came to NCNC to seek a clinic site for their community,” she says. “They recognized how valuable this nurse-led model of primary health care is to their residents and to their rural community. In addition to caring for individuals in the community, access to quality health care is necessary to attract new businesses.”
Layman says the School of Nursing and NCNC are working on strategic plans for growth to continue to help fill the void in small communities and support the School of Nursing’s mission to provide excellent experiential learning opportunities for students.
“I think the future is bright for us,” Layman says. “The sky is probably the limit as we seek to serve more patients in areas that are not served or are underserved when it comes to primary care.”
