Nurse Family Partnership of Central Alabama
The Nurse Family Partnership model partners pregnant and parenting families with a specially trained nurse who visits them in their home or community to provide assessment, education, and resource connection. The intensive advocacy and health promotion provided by Nurse Family Partnership of Central Alabama (NFPCA) nurses improves women and children’s health and promotes health equity in Alabama and beyond. By prioritizing maternal and child health and demonstrating improved outcomes, NFPCA is working to shape health policy for women and children in Alabama.
Nurse-Midwifery
Certified Nurse-Midwives provide comprehensive women’s health care from adolescence through to menopause, including pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. Nurse-midwives also provide newborn care up to 28-days of life and are equipped to serve the community as primary care providers. WACHI aligns with the Hallmarks of Midwifery outlined by the American College of Nurse-Midwives and our pathway and clinical practices strive to prepare a practice-ready workforce to serve across the state of Alabama and beyond. Nurse-midwives are key to a future where women and children in Alabama are healthy and achieving their highest potential.
Education
The UAB School of Nursing MSN Nurse-Midwifery Pathway equips nurses for advanced nursing practice to provide patient care including gynecologic care, family planning and preconception services, care during pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum, as well as newborn care. Nurse midwives are primary care providers who offer initial and ongoing comprehensive assessment, diagnosis, and treatment. Nurse-midwives emphasize and utilize respectful shared-decision making with the patient, offer health promotion, disease prevention, and individualized wellness education and counseling.
Practice
School faculty provide midwifery and other women's health care services at UAB Women And Infants Outpatient Clinic on the main UAB campus.
Partnership Against Interpersonal Violence
Since 2016, the School has combined nursing, forensic, and legal sciences to individuals who have suffered various forms of trauma through its education, practice, and research programs. UAB SON now leads a multidisciplinary partnership addressing issues such as human trafficking, intimate partner violence, domestic violence, sexual exploitation, and trauma-informed care.
Practice
In 2018, WellHouse and UAB School of Nursing partnered to pilot the country’s first and only primary care clinic located inside a residential facility for human trafficking victims over the age of 17. The clinic at WellHouse provides residents with free onsite visits and direct access to primary, women’s health and mental health care where a team of interprofessional specialists, including UAB SON faculty, are working together to address their healthcare needs.
Pediatric Education and Outreach
School-based programs are essential for our WACHI vision and key to building a future where children in Alabama are healthy and achieving their highest potential. WACHI programs create the right environment for building sustainable school-based partnerships, increasing access to healthcare for vulnerable populations. Our expanded school health interventions positively impact learning potential, improve health outcomes, and support overall well-being for children and families in Birmingham, Alabama and beyond.
i3Academy
To help combat the decline in annual checkups for elementary school-aged children after 4 and 5 years old, when the last vaccines that are needed for school until the fifth grade are administered, the School has partnered with i3 Academy. i3Academy is a tuition-free public charter school for children in the Woodlawn community in east Birmingham, and within the partnership, the mutual goal is to promote overall student health and wellness through health screenings, assessments and health education opportunities for families. Faculty and students provide regular hearing and vision screenings and physical assessments for i3’s students, along with health education events for families.
Bright Healthy Future: Partnering to Promote Healthy Lifestyle Habits in Children and their Families (HRSA grant)
Children in many of the communities within Birmingham, Alabama face health-related inequalities due to living in a subset of low-income, low-resource, and underserved area. These disparities combined with failure to address social determinants of health predispose children and their families to poor health outcomes and adverse childhood experiences with potential long-term consequences. This five-year project is providing culturally and linguistically appropriate education in healthy lifestyle habits, health literacy as well as family health education, and screenings and provider referrals for students.
Graduate Nursing Education Primary Care Scholars
The UAB SON Primary Care Scholars initiative is committed to enhancing the presence of advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) in primary care specialties across Alabama. The program is dedicated to educating an APRN workforce prepared to care for the needs of rural and underserved communities while forging collaborations that dismantle obstacles and enhance healthcare accessibility. This includes access to quality health care before, during, and after pregnancy in an ongoing effort to improve maternal and fetal health outcomes.
Women’s Health
The School and Cooper Green Mercy Health Services Authority partnered to expand the Women’s Health Clinic, offering more advanced services to underserved patients across Jefferson County. The clinic offers a variety of women’s health services including primary and preventive care, as well as diagnosis and management of various gynecological conditions for reproductive age, perimenopausal, and post-menopausal patients. The clinic also provides counseling for all sexual and reproductive health needs.