Fast-food medical clinics have mixed results

This nurse didn’t seem very busy during her shift:

On a recent Friday night, Nurse Practitioner Linda Tylka was sitting at her desk inside her Wal-Mart clinic waiting for someone to come along with a problem. She said she typically treats about 10 to 15 patients a day during her long shifts. The clinic has the same hours as the Wal-Mart pharmacy, but so far, the idea of a Wal-Mart doctor hasn’t caught on as quickly as $4 coffee.

I would be curious to see what happens to these clinics once a few well-publicized malpractice cases start coming in.

Comments

Chris, RN
Am I old-fashioned? I don’t want a doctor who doesn’t know me, who isn’t there to follow through if something doesn’t work…I appreciate the art of medicine. As for seeing patients in a “drive-by” setting for “sinus infections; those are the types of patients who go to the doctor and say “I have a sinus infection, I need antibiotics” when they have a stuffy nose for 2 days. How many needless prescriptions are written for antibiotics now, 40 million? MRSA is no longer in old folk’s homes, it’s appearing in infants & twenty year olds, and C-diff has evolved into a fatal disease in young people. Doc-in-the-box clinics will serve patients who don’t feel comfortable developing a relationship, who “want what they want when they want it.”
Anonymous
I’d guess that most people, the 80% (a guess) who use hardly any medical resources, who maybe see a doctor once a year for a pap (and if they’re male, they get to skip those), don’t feel much of a relationship with a doctor anyway. It’s not that they wouldn’t feel comfortable developing a relationship, but that the economic realities don’t foster much relationship building.
David Nesting
I’ve seen perhaps 3 or 4 doctors in the last 15 years, and most of those were in completely different cities. I’d love to have a relationship with someone as important to my life (health) as a doctor, but how can you do that when you never need to see one? The doctors that I *have* seen were, consequently, of the local clinic variety, and were never particularly hospitable or interested in me. In and out. Next patient.
David Nesting
I’ve seen perhaps 3 or 4 doctors in the last 15 years, and most of those were in completely different cities. I’d love to have a relationship with someone as important to my life (health) as a doctor, but how can you do that when you never need to see one? The doctors that I *have* seen were, consequently, of the local clinic variety, and were never particularly hospitable or interested in me. In and out. Next patient.
Anonymous
The last couple comments kind of hit the nail on the head.The ER doc’s that visit here are always complaining about the same “older” people coming to the ER and somehow they have misjudged that to mean that the older folks misuse the ER. Or dr. visits in general.
Seems to me that a little common sense, and realization as to how nature works would solve this problem for them. Most people in their 20s, 30s and some even in their 40s don’t have many health problems that make them seek medical care often, or even at all. When you turn 50 is when things really start going to …well…you know.
After reading here for months I can’t figure out if some of the ER docs just really like to bitch all the time, or if they have no clue?
Anonymous
Though I agree that the current climate doesn’t encourage the building of doctor-patient relationships, I still would not go to Wal-Mart for health care. Seems a bit like going to the local hospital to buy cat food. (Then again, if I didn’t have insurance and Wal-Mart had a big sale on colonoscopies, who knows.)
Anonymous
I wonder if these same comments were being said about pharmacists about 20-30 years ago? My father was a pharmacist for 40 years and he treated his customers like his patients. He knew about the chronic ailments and also when little Jimmy graduated from college. He knew all his regular customers by name and their drug allergies without looking it up on a computer. But then, CVS moved in (and I did not follow in Dad’s footsteps) and well, you know the rest…
Anonymous
And soda’s and ice cream while you waited for your prescriptions. Don’t forget the soda fountains that were in all “drug stores” back then.
ipanema
They’re getting innovative each decade. Medical community’s answer to 24-hour convinience store? Good marketing strategy indeed – accessible, no appointment, no long wait, etc.
It’s still different if you go to a clinic though.
Anonymous
“And soda’s and ice cream while you waited for your prescriptions. Don’t forget the soda fountains that were in all “drug stores” back then.”
Times have definitely changed. As very young kids my brothers and I would buy saltpeter from the local drugstore to mix with sugar and make fireworks…three healthy little boys making almost daily trips to pick up big jars of saltpeter. Nobody said a word(except our parents, after witnessing one particularly impressive conflagration).

Fast-food medical clinics have mixed results

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