Feature Story
A model clinic | Although they originated to benefit employees’ occupational health, on-site clinics have morphed into a number of care-delivery models, and the nurses who staff them have a variety of credentials. Alexander said the Subaru clinic has
Jill Mercer is director of Workplace Health Solutions, a division of IU Health that staffs the on-site clinic at Hamilton Southeastern Schools.
undergone changes based on the shifting goals of occupational medicine. When she started, it was just the place workers came when injured. Now, it has multiple functions including treating simple conditions such as sinusitis. Plans include separating occupational health and primary care and opening a primary clinic in the near future.
“When I first started to work here, you waited for someone to be injured on the job and come in to receive care,” Alexander said. “It’s transitioned to about 20 nursing and therapy employees, on-site physical therapy and athletic training. We interface with the associates — we go out to them instead of waiting for them to come to us.”
Diverse interpretations | Some clinics provide preventive care by administering shots and giving physicals.
Larger clinics can offer comprehensive care such as occupational health, wellness, disease prevention and acute care. “At the University of Indianapolis, the health clinic is for the employed staff, faculty and their families if they want to come,” Kelly said. “It includes pretty subscribed kinds of things, like if you have a sore throat at work. You come here instead of taking off the day to go to the primary care office.”
The Hamilton Southeastern Schools clinic is a primary-care office in the truest sense of the word. A physician is present every weekday to care for employees and their immediate family members. Staff provides child and adult immunizations, well-child check ups and sports physicals. They also care for employees who have become sick or injured on the job. “The patient population is a sampling of the general population,” Wilson said. “[We] have teachers, administrators, cooks, grounds crew, maintenance crew, custodial staff and bus drivers. So you get a different variety of people. We have all age groups — we do elderly to infants. We try to be everything we can to everybody.” ●
12 Indiana Nursing Quarterly •
indystar.com/nursing • Summer 2011
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