This article appeared in the January/February 2012 issue of Nurse Practitioner World News. 

In November of 2011, Sandra “Sandy” F. Ryan, MSN, CPNP, FAANP, became the first nurse practitioner (NP) to be elected to the Fellowship of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Sandy has a long history of leadership in health care, including being a highly decorated officer in the Air Force and serving as a driving force in the US military health system. However, this most recent honor stems from her remarkable contribution to convenient care in this country.

Sandy was one of six founding officers of the Walgreens Take Care Health Systems, which is the largest and most comprehensive manager of convenient-care clinics and worksite health and wellness centers in the United States. Take Care Clinics are professional walk-in healthcare centers that are largely staffed by NPs, plus physician associates in some states. The clinics are located at more than 360 Walgreens drugstores across the country.

In her role as the chief NP officer and clinical advocate at Take Care Clinics, Sandy was the first chief NP officer in the convenient-care industry. She is responsible for the leadership of more than 1300 NPs in more than 19 states and collaborates with local and national nursing organizations and NP leadership to advance the nursing profession and the NP role. Sandy has helped pave the way for NP leadership in the convenient-care industry.

Providing quality health care is of paramount importance. She has been instrumental in developing and implementing clinical standards and evidence-based guidelines to be used by healthcare providers in this retail-based setting. Sandy implemented a quality assurance program throughout Take Care Health Systems in order to ensure company-wide consistency in the quality of care being provided through the establishment of standard operating procedures using nationally recognized evidence-based guidelines. In addition, she has helped lead the development of a proprietary electronic medical record system used at Take Care Clinics.

Sandy is also a founding member of the Convenient Care Association (CCA), where she serves as chair of the clinical advisory board. She was instrumental in the development and implementation of the CCA’s 10 quality and safety standards for the convenient-care industry and has implemented a third-party certification process. While serving as the chair of the provider task force to ensure quality educational offerings for convenient-care providers, Sandy helped organize the first Retail Congress Conference to address the educational needs of healthcare providers in convenient care and to foster camaraderie and support for this new model of health care.

Recognition of her achievements is not new to Sandy Ryan. She was awarded the Nancy Sharp Cutting Edge Award by the American College of Nurse Practitioners in 2007. In both 2008 and 2010, she received the Retail Clinician Congress CARE Leadership Award. She was one of 21 leaders chosen in 2011 for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Executive Nurse Fellows program, which is a 3-year, world-class leadership development experience designed to enhance the effectiveness of nurse leaders to impact the US healthcare system. It seems only fitting that this accomplished woman be the first NP to be elected to the nation’s oldest medical society dedicated to advancing the cause of health while upholding the ideals and heritage of medicine. In welcoming Sandy to the Fellowship of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, George M. Wohlreich, MD, Director and CEO and The Thomas W. Langfitt Chair, said, “Through her leadership, she has demonstrated commitment to enhancing the role that nursing can play in the future of health care. Through her dedication and advocacy, she’s benefitted nurses and nurse practitioners by opening doors to new opportunities, helped to reinforce the value of a collaborative healthcare team to take care of a patient, and increased access for patients to receive high-quality, convenient health care.”