The Heart of Nursing at Primary Health Partners

A Different Kind of Medicine

Primary Health Partners is Oklahoma’s largest Direct Primary Care provider with a membership-based model that removes the barriers of traditional insurance-based medicine and puts the doctor-patient relationship back at the center of care. For nurses, that shift changes everything.

Robin Schluter, Director of Nursing at Primary Health Partners, came to PHP after years as an ICU nurse in cardiac care. When the COVID-19 pandemic forced many of her patients home before they were ready, she knew she needed a different path.

“I didn’t want to practice that way anymore,” Schluter said. “I wanted to spend more time with my patients.”

At PHP, she found exactly that. And so do the nurses who join the team.

What Nursing Looks Like at PHP

In a traditional clinic or hospital setting, nurses are often stretched across high patient volumes with limited time for meaningful interaction. At Primary Health Partners, the Direct Primary Care model changes the fundamental structure of a nursing shift.

Because PHP physicians carry smaller patient panels, a core tenet of the DPC model, their nurses have the time to truly engage with each patient. That means listening fully, answering questions thoroughly, and addressing the concerns that often get overlooked in a seven-minute insurance-based visit.

Schluter defines great nursing care at PHP with clarity and conviction.

“Great nursing care is getting to the bottom of the patient’s problem and answering their questions, often making them feel heard for the first time ever in medicine.”

That’s healthcare, the way it should be.

The PHP Nursing Culture

Culture is one of the most important factors nurses consider when evaluating a new position, and it is one of PHP’s most distinctive strengths.

At Primary Health Partners, the relationship between nurses and physicians is built on mutual respect, open communication, and genuine teamwork. Schluter describes the dynamic as something she actively works to cultivate across every PHP clinic.

“It’s very much a team environment,” she said. “Every doctor should feel like they can go to every nurse for any of their needs at any point in time. We want to find the small things that could fester and turn into an issue within the clinics, and make sure that providers and nurses have a great relationship, because that’s how we take care of our patients.”

That team-first approach extends to PHP’s leadership philosophy as well. Schluter brings a nursing leadership perspective shaped by a belief that transparent communication from leaders to staff is not optional, it is essential.

“Nurses need more information from their leaders,” she said. “A lot can be lost in translation. They need a little bit more detail to understand why things happen at a director’s level and how it affects the clinic and how it affects our greater population of patients.”

Standards of Care

Nursing at Primary Health Partners is guided by a mission that goes beyond treating illness. PHP’s model is built on proactive, preventive, relationship-based care, and nurses are central to delivering it.

At PHP, nurses are expected to:

Listen completely. Each nurse stays present in the room, not distracted by the clock or the next appointment.  They know what’s happening with their patients, and listen to each patient.

Understand the whole patient. PHP’s model allows nurses to develop real, ongoing relationships with their patients by learning their history, their goals, and their concerns over time. That continuity makes better care possible.

Partner with providers. The nurse-physician relationship at PHP is collaborative by design. Nurses are expected to communicate openly, advocate for patients, and function as genuine partners in the clinical process, not simply as support staff.

Champion prevention. As Schluter describes it, PHP’s mission is about prolonging the lives of healthy people, not just fixing sick problems. Nurses at PHP are active participants in that preventive philosophy.

Why Nurses Are Choosing PHP

For nurses coming from hospital-based systems, one of the most immediate and meaningful changes at PHP is the schedule and quality of life.

“You get your holidays back,” Schluter said. For many nurses, that statement carries real weight. The unpredictability of hospital scheduling, the missed Christmases, the year-after-year holiday negotiations — none of that exists at Primary Health Partners.

But it goes beyond the schedule. Nurses at PHP describe feeling genuinely heard, both as clinicians and as people. The culture of transparency, the team-based approach to care, and the opportunity to practice nursing the way they always believed it should be practiced are what keep them coming back.

“I love the change that we get to affect in people,” Schluter said. “I love that we hear what the problems are, and we are trying to prolong the lives of healthy people instead of just fixing a sick problem.”

What PHP Nurses Want Every Oklahoma Patient to Know

When asked what she would tell every Oklahoma patient about what a primary care nurse at PHP can do for them, Robin Schluter’s answer was immediate.

“You’re finally going to be listened to.”

That is the promise PHP nurses make. And it is one they are positioned to keep.

Join the PHP Nursing Team

Primary Health Partners is growing and we are looking for nurses who are ready to practice the kind of care they went into nursing to deliver.

If you are a nurse who is tired of the traditional system and ready for something different, including a team that values your expertise, a culture that hears your voice, and a model that gives you the time to truly care for your patients, we would love to talk.

Learn more about nursing careers at Primary Health Partners: primary-healthpartners.com/careers/

About Robin Schluter

Robin Schluter, RN serves as Director of Nursing at Primary Health Partners, where she leads clinical nursing teams across PHP’s statewide network of clinics.

After spending the bulk of her nursing career in Intensive Care, including a specialized role in Cardiac ICU preparing patients for heart transplants and LVAD procedures, Robin came to PHP in 2023 looking for something the hospital system could no longer offer her: time, purpose, and a model of medicine that actually matched her values.

Promoted to Director of Nursing in September 2025, she now leads nursing teams across all eleven PHP clinics with a philosophy built on advocacy, empowerment, and the belief that a nurse who feels supported will always deliver better care. She is a mother of five, a proud grandmother, and someone who never walks into a room with a problem without also bringing a solution.