The MSU College of Nursing Primary Care Center sits inconspicuously among a bevy of other health care providers in the Clinical Center, but it bears a new name and has a broader focus.
The center changed its name from the Nursing Healthcare Center in August and will accept more forms of insurance to expand the number of patients who can use the center.
"We've always provided primary care to our patient base, but the name didn't accurately reflect that," said Kathy Forrest, acting director of the center. "It was a confused title. People didn't know what happened at the Nursing Healthcare Center. They thought we were all about giving injections or changing dressings when in fact we provide comprehensive primary care."
The center has been in operation through the College of Nursing for seven years and is run by nurse practitioners, who are nationally board-certified and have received a master's degree in nursing.
Nurses at the center provide physical examinations, immunizations and management for chronic health care problems, and are able to prescribe medications and order laboratory tests or X-rays.
Nurse practitioners' advanced training allows them to diagnose and treat health problems and help manage health conditions, said Teresa Wehrwein, assistant dean for professional partnerships and faculty practice in the college.
Receiving care from a nurse practitioner is different than other health care providers in terms of approach, she said.
"Nurse practitioners bring all the experience of being a nurse and additional experience in primary care and work together with patients to address health care issues," Wehrwein said. "It's a choice for patients and it offers an option in health care."
Forrest said the center provides services conducted from a nursing model that focuses not only on primary care but on the patient as part of the health care team.
Nurse practitioners form relationships with patients and work to educate them so they can prevent health problems, she said.
"Everything about the patient's condition is considered," Forrest said. "It's not just the reason they're coming, but all of the patients' concerns because they're very much linked together."
The center also acts as a resource for faculty to teach advanced methods of nursing to the five to eight students who learn and practice at the center each semester.
"The Primary Care Center is important to the college because it allows us to connect our mission of providing nursing care through nurse practitioners with our students," Wehrwein said. "A very important part of nursing education is the opportunity for the learner to work with experienced nurses who will guide them and help them provide quality nursing care."
Denise Soltow, an assistant professor of nursing who has been practicing at the center for three years, said the name change and expansion in services could raise awareness of the role nurse practitioners play and show community members an alternative in heath care.
The center can accept up to 20 patients a day, but Wehrwein said she hopes to increase that number.
