Expanding Educational Opportunities for Retail Health Providers

In just 2 months, we’ll convene in Orlando for the 2^ndannualConvenient Healthcare and Pharmacy Collaborative (CHPC), which is being held fromJuly 19-21, 2016,at the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek Resort. This conference is the only educational and networking event that brings together the true heart and soul of retail health: the nurse practitioner, physician assistant, and pharmacist leaders on the front lines.

The retail health industry has always been forward-thinking and brings innovation to health care. From expanded access to basic primary care in convenient, nontraditional medical settings, to providing excellent patient experiences while delivering care through non-physician providers, retail health continually meets the needs of patients and consumers in ways that the traditional medical community had not done prior to the proliferation of this new delivery setting. As such, it’s no surprise that 6 years after the release of the Institute for Medicine’sFuture of Nursingreport, and even as new recommendations are being made, the retail health industry has already begun implementing educational and leadership programs similar to those outlined in the new recommendations.

In December 2015, an assessment of the 2010Future of Nursingreport suggested that there should be expanded efforts and opportunities to support interprofessional collaboration and opportunities for nurses (and other advanced providers) to design, implement, and diffuse collaborative programs in care and delivery; promote the involvement of nurses in the redesign of care delivery and payment systems; grow programs and courses in leadership, entrepreneurship, and management; promote interprofessional approaches to education with a focus on leadership; and support continuing competence in leadership skills.

Through residency programs, scholarship opportunities, clinical rotations, and ongoing clinical education at retail clinics, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists, and students are exposed to leadership and interdisciplinary education, a collaborative practice environment, business management and entrepreneurship skills, and practical clinical training. Programs and educational opportunities such as those offered by clinic organizations and at CHPC enable retail heath providers to continue to improve patient care and outcomes while expanding access to affordable, high-quality health care.

As the retail health industry continues to foster ongoing innovation and professional development, it will lead the charge and provide a road map for other health care professionals and educators to make progress toward the 2010Future of Nursingassessment’s recommendations. CHPC is a venue for such professional development, and the agenda for the clinical and leadership sessions is now available atpharmacytimes.org/chpc16. We encourage you to take a look and register for this dynamic conference if you haven’t already done so.

Thank you for all that you do, and I look forward to seeing you at CHPC 2016!

Tine Hansen-Turton serves as the founding executive director for the Convenient Care Association (CCA), the national trade association for the over 2000 private-sector retail clinics industry, which serves millions of individuals with basic health care services across the country, and has been coined by Harvard professor Clayton Christensen as a “disruptive health innovation.” She assists CCA with business and programmatic strategy, development, coordination and implementation, policy development, and state and national advocacy.