Good Press for Retail Clinic NPs

Nurse.com published an article today targeted to nurse practitioners in the D.C./Maryland/Virginia area. It breaks out which retail health clinics are operating in the area and concisely notes the importance of NPs to the idustry. They quote Karen Frye, Richmond district manager for RediClinic in the following passage:

The success of convenient care clinics is increasing visibility of NPs and their skills while presenting an opportunity for them to play a driving role in developing a new dimension in health care. In addition to staffing clinics, NPs fill roles as managers and directors of operations who are responsible for local and regional management of CCCs.

“NPs are very well known for teaching and preventative care, and our company incorporates that into the way we give care,” says Frye. This includes the development of programs for smoking cessation and screenings for high cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease, liver and kidney function, thyroid disease, allergies, prostatic specific antigen (PSA), and osteoporosis.

“This is an excellent opportunity for NPs to do all those things they do so well,” says Frye. “It’s a unique place for NPs to stretch their wings.”

According to this article, the area has 44 MinuteClinics, 9 RediClinics, 5 Target Clinics, and a few other, smaller retail clinics peppered throughout. Out of the almost 1,000 clinics in operation in the country now, this is a fairly sizeable number, so press that promotes NPs' work in these clinics can only be a good thing for promoting NPs.