Retail Healthcare: An Evolving Field for Nurse Practitioners from Nurse Together

I work in a new area for nursing: Nurse Practitioner in a Convenient Care Clinic providing minor care in a retail setting. That is, I diagnose and treat sore throats in a grocery store. My practice involves sore throats, ear aches, URI, Influenza, Dermatitis, and UTIs for adult women. I am a Family Nurse Practitioner and we do episodic care for anyone one year and older. My oldest patient, thus far, was a one hundred-year-old lady who received her flu shot in my clinic.

Working in a retail clinic requires a lot more than the ability to diagnose and treat minor ailments. To be good at this position, one needs to be able to triage simple, routine care from more serious conditions that require a higher level of care and greater follow-up. If you don’t want to miss heart failure from bronchitis, you need to be aware that things may not be as clear cut as they look. At the same time, the famous saying, “look for horses before zebras”, is the general rule.

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