Urgent Care is a fast paced environment with emphasis on providing superior patient care quickly. The Urgent Care Association of America (UCAOA) defines urgent care (UC) as “the delivery of ambulatory medical care provided outside of an emergency department on a walk-in basis (2011).” There is a diverse scope of practice within UC, with treatment of many types of patients of all age groups from infant to geriatric. UC are unique, and fill the gap between a primary care provider and an emergency department (Qin & Prybutok, 2013). On any given day, staff may treat patients with simple colds, influenza, asthma exacerbations, lacerations or broken bones.
Case Study
I am currently employed at an UC center in central Virginia, one of 141 centers owned by United Heath Group. This corporation has been very supportive of my continuing education, and has offered me a position as a family nurse practitioner (FNP) once I graduate and pass the certification exam. I enjoy my current role as a registered nurse (RN), and look forward to continuing my relationship with them.
The center is staffed with a physician, FNP or physician assistant (PA), RN, radiology technician (RT), medical assistant (MA) as well as support billing and office personnel. Open from 8:00 am until 8:00 pm, the providers work twelve hour …show more content…
FNPs are well suited to help relieve the shortage as they can often perform the same duties as physicians and provide support to PCPs (Closing the Primary Care Gap, 2013). Although UC does not focus on primary care, many of the physicians hired were previously primary care providers. Utilizing FNPs to support the current physicians as well as to fill the gap for providers as the company expands is a logical