NursingLink

News >> Browse Articles >> Hospitals

Sick Flocking to In-Store Clinics

Jen Krasco, nurse practitioner at a CVS MinuteClinic in Medford, posted a sign about flu shot availability. (Globe Staff Photo / Mark Wilson)

Patients who arrived for care on a recent morning at the MinuteClinic on High Street in Medford – which opened in November and is one of the busiest sites, according to CVS – said they came for the convenience.

“It can be hard to schedule an appointment on short notice with my pediatrician,” said Russell Weiss-Irwin, 16, whose father brought him in for a persistent sore throat and headache. “This was very quick.” Nurse practitioner Jennifer Krasco swabbed his throat to test for strep and sent the sample to a lab.

Also that morning, Elaine Eberth, who is in her late 60s and just got over a cold, wanted someone to listen to her lungs to make sure she didn’t have pneumonia. Her doctor’s office is in Boston, and she didn’t want to make the trip from Medford for a 10-minute visit.

Rachel Wilberschied, who is in her 30s, came in for a flu shot. “I have no qualms about this,” said Wilberschied, a nurse.

Doctors said that Minute- Clinic nurse practitioners, as the company promised, are sending physicians detailed visit notes for patients they have treated. But, they said, some patients have been prescribed antibiotics when they weren’t needed.

Dr. Poul M. LaPlante, a family practitioner near the Medford clinic, said three of his patients have gone to MinuteClinic recently for sinusitis, though his office had appointments available. They were given antibiotics, which he did not think was warranted; sinus infections are usually treated with steroid nasal sprays, he said.

“I was a little distressed by that,” LaPlante said. “They don’t have any ongoing relationship with the nurse practitioner. When they see me, I can usually call on their trust in me when I say they don’t need antibiotics.”

LaPlante said he has not asked the patients why they went to MinuteClinic. “It’s a touchy subject with me. I feel sort of jilted and I don’t want to convey this to the patients,” he said. “But if someone is going on a repeated basis I need to ask them what is going on.”

Dr. Andrew Escoll, a family practitioner in Tewksbury, said 10 of his patients have used the nearby MinuteClinic. He said that the clinic quickly sent him treatment notes, but that he also has seen overuse of antibiotics, a concern because it can lead to treatment-resistant bacteria.

Overall, he said, “they are actually doing a good job for what they’re doing,” Escoll said, but he remains philosophically opposed to the idea, in part because of the missed opportunity to discuss health screenings with patients. “People are always running to their doctor with colds. When they do, I can usually address a whole list of other things, like when they need a pap smear or colonoscopy,” he said.