Survey explores NP job satisfaction in retail clinics

Las Vegas – Retail health clinics are emerging as a cost-effective solution to address primary care and urgent care needs as many parts of the United States experience a shortage of primary care physicians.

But they may have trouble retaining qualified nurse practitioners to manage them, Loree D. Elahee-Lee, DNP, CNP, of Cincinnati, Ohio, told Clinical Advisor during a poster presentation at the American Association of Nurse Practitioners 2013 National Conference.

“I worked for two of the three top retail clinics in the United States, and I noticed that there was a very high turnover rate among nurse practitioners. I wanted to figure out why and what’s causing the problem,” she explained.

Despite the growing prevalence of retail health clinics, there is currently no published research investigating NP job satisfaction in these practice settings.

So Elahee-Lee invited 50 NPs who attended the 2011 American Academy of Nurse Practitioners National Conference to participate in a survey. A total of 33 met the eligibility requirement of working in a retail clinic for one or more years and were able to participate.

On average participants were women (97%) aged 46 to 50 years. The majority of respondents were white (84.8%), followed by blacks (9.1%) and Hispanics (6.1%).

The top areas of job satisfaction among NPs working in retail clinics were the challenge and autonomy of treating patients (93.9%), benefits (93%), and time for professional, social and community interaction (90%), respondents indicated.

Areas where NPs reported dissatisfaction included opportunities for intra-practice partnership and collegiality (81.8%) and lack of perceived professional growth (78.8%).

“Overall, we are satisfied with working in retail clinics because of entitlements, the money is good and we get to see patients autonomously,” Alahee-Lee said.

Performing nonclinical duties, and essentially being alone in the clinic are aspects that clinicians are dissatisfied with, she added.

“NPs feel like they went to school and earned a masters or doctorate degree to clean floors and do marketing for large retail pharmacies.” Elahee-Lee said. “It can be really frustrating.”

Study limitations included the small sample size and a lack of ability to demonstrate statistical significance.

Elahee-Lee called for larger studies to assess why NPs chose other arenas instead of continuing to practice at retail health clinics.