reading other reviews here, it seems clear that this CVS has a habit of profiling their patients, and i can definitely attest to that. i came into this CVS after 3 days of having symptoms of strep throat. i was fairly certain i had strep as i was exposed to it and all of my symptoms matched those listed in the description, which i told them.
at first, the nurses were very nice and seemed sympathetic towards my pain. however, the rapid strep test ended up coming back negative. i felt a very sudden change of attitude after this. the provider i saw, Beth, became sort of judgmental and condescending and began insisting that i must have an STI in my throat, which she claimed presented similarly to strep. i was skeptical and expressed this, but she insisted i get tested. i asked Beth what i should do if these tests come back negative as well, and i asked if there was any chance the rapid test gave a false negative. she told me that the rapid test is the same test that the lab uses and is therefore extremely accurate, so a lab throat culture wouldn't say anything different. she then said she was pretty certain that the tests would be positive and told me to wait for a call with results. she didn't give me any medical advice or medication to ease the pain in the meantime, just told me to take ibuprofen.
i'm assuming that Beth immediately jumped to the conclusion of STI due to my age (20s) and this location's proximity to ASU and i wouldn't be surprised if this clinic got a lot of STI cases so i understand why her mind went there. what i didn't appreciate was her lack of sympathy or concern for me as soon as she believed my symptoms to be due to an STI, and i left CVS feeling kind of upset and defeated.
the following day CVS called me to tell me that the STI tests were both negative. i asked what i should do, what else could this be, and again could the strep test have been a false negative? the woman told me there's no chance it's a false negative and to come in again to be tested for mono if my symptoms still persist after 5 days. i told her that it had already been 4 days with no improvement, and she told me to "hang in there."
i ended up going to an urgent care, which had a way higher copay by the way which was why i didn't go there to begin with, and told them what happened and they were a bit disturbed. they told me that the rapid strep test is only 70% accurate, a far cry from the extreme accuracy i was told. they then told me that STIs in the throat are not very common, so they weren't sure why a provider would jump to that conclusion. i was prescribed an antibiotic within 10 min and after ~2 doses i felt almost 100% better.
overall i was extremely frustrated by the judgement and lack of help i received from CVS. do not come here unless you're looking to be judged and humiliated. read more