Assignment task: Respond to discussion question:
Common retail care clinics (RCC) around my area include various pharmacies, supermarkets, and department stores such as CVS, Walgreens, Stop n Shop, and Walmart. They offer a wide range of health services that include primary care, immunizations, and even minor procedures performed by registered nurses, advanced practice nurses, physician assistants, pharmacy technicians, and pharmacists.
Some advantages of retail health clinics are that they can be more accessible, economical, lower cost, and provide quick solutions and simpler health needs with a one-stop shopping approach in the community. It can also be timesaving for the patient and even relieve the annoyance and congestion of waiting in line, decrease emergency room visits, and make appointments to see a provider at a hospital or other health facilities. Increasing access to retail care clinics can provide much-needed health access to underserved or provider shortage areas (Barnes, 2023). Disadvantages of RCC are the smaller size and smaller scale of treatment options due to their location, suppliers, and staffing. RCC can cause fragmented care, lack of follow-up care, lack of appropriate referrals, missed opportunities for preventative care, and financial impact such as loss of patients and revenue (Kasprak, 2008).
After making a few phone calls to various RCCs around my area, the regulatory, prescriptive authority, and/or reimbursement for APRNs working in retail care clinics in Connecticut varies per clinic and is generally based on the clinic's individualized protocol, requirements, and procedures. Generally, the foundation of APRN practice is that the APRN must practice for three years in collaboration with a provider. In Connecticut, collaboration means a mutual agreement and relationship between both roles who are adequately trained, have relevant work experience, and can have the appropriate level of consultation, referral, and coverage for patients (CT Gov, 2023).