Their Minute Clinic is a total joke. You "sign in" at a touch screen kiosk which takes literally about 10 minutes. The waiting "area" is literally in an aisle on the far side of the store amongst lice medications and rash creams. There are 4 chairs and people waiting for pharmacy pickups also use them. While i was there there was a mom and 2 kids, a couple and parents with 1 child. 9 people all waiting in this aisle. People are trying to move past all the patients waiting to get what they want on the shelves. I waited about 50 minutes and i felt so badly for the other patients behind me as the nurse practitioner (not a doctor) swung the door open, called my name (thankfully) and announced haphazardly to the rest of the crowd that she will be taking a lunch break after me and there will be an additional wait. I cant even imagine their frustration as they had been waiting and waiting as i was. How about a system where the break is scheduled within the system so you are warned of the time to wait when you sign in? Seems too easy. No, let people wait first then spring it on them as if their time is of little importance. When you sign in it lets you know how many people are before you and says it can text you 30 minutes before your "appointment" that you can come back but you get the sense that if you did leave and come back you could be very well be skipped because you dont know the flow of patients and how long each will take. You're sick.. you came all the way down there.. are you really leaving to go back home so you can wait there? No.
So it gets worse. I get in with the pseudo "doctor" and the experience was probably the worst with a medical professional i have ever had in my life. I had been sick with flu like symptoms (body aches, stuffy nose, lethargic) for several days that eventually transformed into a deep goose honk-like hacking cough, thick green phlegm that is being brought up and a case of laryngitis that is so bad i can only utter a raspy whisper. The laryngitis came out if no where. Woke up and could not talk. Literally cannot speak at all.
I let her know that 2 close friends in my office had the exact same thing and had to be treated with medication before they got better. Their symptoms of laryngitis lasted for 5 days before their voice returned. She seemed quite disinterested in the "coincidence" and when i tried to explain that they had serious underlying chest issues that came out of this illness - one even had been diagnosed with walking pneumonia so shrugged it off as different people with different circumstances. Come on.. i am the 3rd person within 2 weeks in my office with sudden laryngitis and it may not be related?
She took my vitals (blood pressure, ears, nose) and noted that upon looking in my nose said she could see i had a lot of inflammation but then added "well, it could be chronic" as in - unrelated to this illness. You have a patient presenting with stuffy nose (not very runny), flu like symptoms, cough, laryngitis and green phlegm and the nose could be unrelated.
As she was listening to my chest asking me to breathe I could tell that my breathing seemed somewhat ok and clear but told her when i cough it sounds really bad. She was not interested in hearing me cough. Also, when i deeply exhale and empty my lungs there is a rattle. I spend nights tossing and turning because of this cough. Why would she not want me to demonstrate it? I know that thick green phlegm means infection. She asked what color it is but acted like thats norm.
So now come her recommendations. She looks in my history which, although i have never been to a CVS Minute Clinic must be on her screen? I guess through my insurance? My last Dr. visit was in September (it is December) when i had a sinus infection. I went to my favorite nearby urgent care which was closed when i tried to go there which is why i was with her. She oddly and almost suspiciously asks "how many times per year would you say you take antibiotics?" i answer "i dont know, maybe 2 when i am sick and they are needed??" ... hmmmmmmm. (She's obv. thinking about something)... "I'm not going to prescribe anything at this point"... She expects the laryngitis to be much better probably by tomorrow. She says it "is likely viral but could turn bacterial"... She recommends Sudafed and over the counter Nasacort nose spray. I say i have Sudafed at home actually. "Is it the REAL Sudafed though???" She asks... She goes into this speech about how she wishes they wouldn't call over the counter sudafed the same as the one you get from behind the pharmacy counter.
I'm going to a real doctor first thing in the morning tomorrow (Monday). Avoid this place and go to a regular urgent care if its the weekend and your dr. isn't in. I needed a Dr note after 2 other people were out with the same illness and she wrote ok to return Monday am! read more
