The Role and Impact of the Nurse Practitioner in the Creation and Scale of an Innovative Healthcare Delivery Model - Retail Clinics

Abstract

In a relatively short period, the role of the advanced practice nurse has been conceptualized and established, evolved into a heavily relied-upon but still supporting position, and, finally today, matured into one of leadership, and growing responsibility. This most recent development has come particularly rapidly, in part accelerated by the creation and proliferation of retail-based convenient care clinics in the last decade. The success of the convenient care clinic industry (retail clinics) has helped to underscore and spotlight the nurse practitioner’s emergence as an independent, front-line provider of first- rate care. Despite these advancements, however, barriers still remain before nurse practitioners can be fully incorporated into the U.S. healthcare delivery system.