Clinics/Ambulatory Care

One of the things that people like most about clinic work is that it tends to be a day job, with regular hours (i.e., 9 to 5 or 8 to 4). Unless you work in one of the rare all-night urgent care clinics, or in an outpost clinic you are essentially guaranteed standard hours.

Clinics may be hospital-based or freestanding. Some clinics also go on the road, like the Canadian National Institute for the Blind's eye van that travels to small communities throughout Northwestern Ontario, providing a full range of ophthalmic services.

Clinics may be urgent care or family practice settings, which often employ pharmacists and/or some laboratory or medical imaging staff. In these clinics, staff can see a little bit of everything or they can experience hours worth of the same thing, such as during cold and flu season, when each patient is often only distinguishable by size and shape, not by symptoms. Clinics may also be specialized for diagnoses, treatment, and/or follow-up of patients, e.g., hemodialysis, allergy testing, pre-natal, Well-Mother/Well-Baby, ophthalmology, oncology, transplant, etc.

Staff in clinics are often extremely busy. They have to deal with the routine as well as the unusual. In general, they need strong assessment, interviewing, patient teaching, and communication skills. Other specific skills depend on the clinic's specialty.

For more information see our Work Environments article on Outpost Nursing, and our articles On the Road with the"Eye Chicks", Tales from the Tundra, Breaking Bad News, Take-Home Messages, Bringing Healthcare to the People, and The Phelophepa Train.

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