ANN ARBOR—Four universities collaborating in a project aimed at improving care through nurse-managed primary care facilities will come together Nov. 1-2 to discuss what they’ve learned since teaming three years ago. The goal is to exchange with one another lessons learned, as well as to share their insights with others in the nursing profession.

Begun in 1998, the Michigan Academic Consortium: Nurse Managed Primary Care is a partnership of the schools of nursing at U-M, Grand Valley State University, Michigan State University and Wayne State University. A fifth partner, the Michigan Public Health Institute, has served the fiduciary role and has assisted with the evaluation component. W.K. Kellogg Foundation awarded the partners $4.4 million for a project designed to offer quality health care to communities, inform public policy and enhance the education of students.

Nurse-managed health care centers differ from traditional medical clinics in that nurse practitioners not only treat acute and chronic illness, but emphasize prevention and health promotion. Nurse practitioners are trained in diagnosing and recommending treatment for common acute illnesses, assisting in disease prevention, managing chronic illnesses and offering a host of other primary care services.

Tim Porter-O’Grady, who has been involved in health care for 30 years, is slated to discuss the future of nurse-managed primary care at the conference in Ann Arbor. A senior partner in an international health care consulting firm in Atlanta and an associate professor at Emory University, Porter-O’Grady believes nursing is pivotal to effective delivery of health services because it is the only one of the health care disciplines focused on a person’s health care journey rather than the events of health intervention.

Sally Lundeen, dean of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Nursing and described as the mother of nurse-managed centers, is working to develop a Midwest regional consortium of nurse-managed centers. Her research has led to the production of computer software programs, training manuals and video tapes. She, too, will speak about the future of nurse-managed centers.

Other topics on the agenda include financial sustainability of nurse-managed centers, how they should position themselves in the marketplace, and what the consortium has learned thus far.

Joanne Pohl, project director at U-M, said this year’s agenda differs from past programs in that consortium members have gained a better understanding of the issues facing nurse-managed centers. In their initial gatherings, they needed to address more basic, functional issues associated with establishing centers, but now they are more advanced in their experiences and aspirations.

As a group, the consortium operates nine nurse-managed centers, which treat people in varied financial situations but focus on providing care in underserved areas, said Pohl, an associate professor of nursing and associate dean for the Office for Community Partnerships in the U-M School of Nursing. More information on the consortium is at http://minursingcenters.org

For details on the conference, including a list of the many professionals slated to present, or to register online, visit http://www.med.umich.edu/esn/programs/consortium. Sessions run 1-7 p.m. Nov. 1 and 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Nov. 2 at the Crowne Plaza hotel, near Briarwood Mall in Ann Arbor. Cost is $125, $25 for students, including meals and program materials.

For more information on—

U-M School of Nursing: http://www.nursing.umich.edu/

W.K. Kellogg Foundation: http://www.wkkf.org/

Grand Valley School of Nursing: http://www4.gvsu.edu/kson/

MSU School of Nursing: http://www.msu.edu/unit/nurse/

Wayne State School of Nursing: http://www.nursing.wayne.edu/

Michigan Public Health Institute: http://www.mphi.org/

Michigan Academic Consortium: Nurse Managed Primary CareTim Porter-O’GradyJoanne PohlOffice for Community Partnershipshttp://www.med.umich.edu/esn/programs/consortiumhttp://www.nursing.umich.edu/http://www.wkkf.org/