Jim Raper is proud to be a nurse practitioner and to have been the first nurse to direct a medical clinic at UAB. This, he said, has afforded him the opportunity to incorporate advanced practice nursing into every aspect of the 1917 Clinic.
There are two mental health-psychiatric advanced practice nurses from the School of Nursing who do their faculty practice at the 1917 Clinic, and a women’s health nurse practitioner and five family nurse practitioners fully integrated into the care delivery model in the clinic.
“A well-qualified workforce is difficult to maintain. Incorporating faculty members from the School of Nursing who are on the cutting edge of health care and research, and incorporating them into this practice arena, provides much-needed care to people in need, while it affords the nurse practitioners the opportunity to think about and explore their research interests,” he said.
That is why he is working to add more faculty members to the clinic. Currently, Teena McGuinness, PhD, CRNP, FAAN, and Susanne Fogger, DNP, CRNP, PMHNP-BC, provide mental health care to patients who would otherwise not have access to it.
“For those patients it has been a true blessing,” he said. “For our clinic it has been incredibly important because we would not have been able to provide access to much- needed psychiatric/ mental health care. Every one of these patients they provide care to is a person. An individual’s life is meaningful in so many ways.”
Raper is in the process of developing additional relationships with at least two other faculty members who will help meet the demand of the increasing numbers of patients the clinic serves.
“To me it’s been an invaluable experience maintaining a healthy relationship with the School of Nursing,” he added. “Having a school that is so close and integrated with us is significant for our community and the people we serve.”
