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Insights Magazine 2025

RedMed: Caring For Employees, Preparing Future Nurses

RedMed: Caring For Employees, Preparing Future Nurses

Providing on-campus health care for employees and hands-on learning for nursing students

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University of Utah employees who need a physical exam, women’s health care, or treatment for a workplace injury don’t have to leave campus to get medical care. 

Thanks to RedMed, the university’s employee health clinic, expert treatment is available every day of the workweek from College of Nursing (CON) faculty and staff. Best of all, every service is provided at no cost, thanks to a collaboration with University Human Resources (UHR).

RedMed Notable Numbers

415

TOTAL SPECIALTY CARE REFERRALS FROM REDMED

1,067

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH SERVICES PERFORMED

2,019

PATIENTS SEEN IN 2024

3,245

APPOINTMENTS COMPLETED IN 2024

Expanding Access to on-campus Health Care

“We’ve been operating for the last nine years, but we’ve really expanded over the past three,” says Primary Care Clinical Director Katie Davis, DNP, APRN, FNP-C. “When I first started in 2022, the clinic mostly saw on-campus work injuries, but now we offer primary care services, vaccines, psychiatric services, and more.”

Once Davis began leading RedMed, she saw opportunities to build on the clinic’s strong foundation by adding new roles to support its growth and expanding services.

“Bringing in a dedicated, full-time team has helped us reach more patients and offer even more care options,” she says. “When I brought in our patient services coordinator, Morgan West, that’s when things really took off. She’s really the brains behind our operation. Anytime I want to do something new, she helps me figure it out.”

Thanks to Davis’s leadership, RedMed visits rose 89% from 2022 to 2024. Last year, the clinicians had 3,245 appointments, 594 more than in 2023. 

Today, RedMed has three full-time support staff, four part-time clinicians, and a group of other clinicians that assist when needed. At the clinic, located on the ground floor of the A. Ray Olpin Student Union Building, clinicians offer walk-in care for urgent needs as well as scheduled wellness appointments. That includes mental health services. Kim Sundstrom, DNP, APRN, PMHNP, a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, recently joined the RedMed staff and provides evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment services to attend to mental health needs.

Our psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner service opened last winter,” Davis says. “Kim sees patients in the Behavioral Health Innovation and Dissemination Center, located on the third floor of the Gardner Commons building one day a week. Given that there is such a need for mental health care, we provide a direct line for patients to receive timely care.”

RedMed practitioners provide care grounded in evidence-based standards and best practices, ensuring employees receive the same high-quality care and treatment offered throughout University of Utah Health. When specialized expertise is needed, the team seamlessly connects patients to the right providers. In 2024, the clinic served 2,019 patients, including 1,170 new patients and 668 employees without a primary care provider on file, underscoring RedMed’s role as an accessible entry point to coordinated care.

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Educating Future Nurses Through Hands-On Experiences

CON students also complete important clinical hours through RedMed. First-year nursing students have an opportunity to perform hands-on skills with RedMed staff at the Employee Appreciation Day flu clinic.

“Brand new pre-licensure students have their first opportunity to administer injections, under supervision,” Davis said. “Collectively, they give nearly 2,000 flu shots in one day, so it’s a pretty unique experience.”

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Doctor of Nurse Practice (DNP) students rotate with providers year-round, and RedMed offers an average of 800–1,000 clinical hours each year.

Once a DNP student joins a rotation with RedMed, they receive plenty of opportunities to build their clinical management skills and confidence. Training the next generation of nursing professionals, Davis and the RedMed clinicians provide mentorship to prepare students for the workplace.

“Katie was an extraordinary mentor,” says Brenda Matthews, a recent DNP graduate. “I really appreciated her belief in me and her encouragement to push me outside of my comfort zone. Words really can’t express how grateful I am for her unwavering support.”

Balancing her academic and clinical roles allows Davis to stay engaged with patient care. She gets a lot of satisfaction in her work at RedMed. Thanks to the partnership with UHR, she and her colleagues also receive professional development funding to continue improving their clinical skills.

“What makes our clinic unique is that it’s completely led and staffed by the College of Nursing,” says Davis. “We’re working to get the word out so we can keep expanding our care to more university employees.”