What is Urgent Care?
There are two different kinds of emergencies: life-threatening and non-life-threatening. Life threatening emergencies require a visit to the ER, but injuries that be considered non-life-threatening can be tested with one question: can this issue wait a day? Urgent care provides easy access to quality healthcare when a patient?s primary care physician?s office is closed.
It?s not always easy to assess whether or not a medical problem deserves the attention of emergency room care or the walk in clinic. While urgent care is no substitute for the treatment of a life-threatening emergency, patients can expect to receive quality care from medical experts. Urgent care physicians assess patient?s injuries and determine if greater care is needed, never hesitating to send them to receive emergency room care if and when necessary.
How Do I Determine What is Non-Life-Threatening?
Any patient who has broken a bone before, or needed a toxicological screening for work, has found comfort in knowing that they don?t have to visit the hospital or its emergency room to have their concerns addressed. But what other illnesses and ailments does the urgent care facility address? Here are some of the non-life-threatening issues that patients can find doctors addressing in the walk in clinic:
- Sports injury
- Worker?s Compensation injury
- Splints
- Muscle sprains and strains
- Lacerations
- Jock itch
- Insect bites
- Rashes
- Dehydration
- Abdominal pain
- Travel medicine and travel vaccines
- STD testing
- Employment screening
- Tuberculosis test
- Spirometry screening
- Hazmat screening
- Flu shots
- EKG
- Ear cleaning
- Digital x-ray
- Asthma
- Anxiety
- Urinary tract infection
- Kidney infection
- Swimmer?s ear
- Heartburn
- Hemorrhoids
- Nausea
- Migraine
- Pink eye
Why People Choose Urgent Care
The walk in clinic is growing in popularity due to its ability to treat many of the issues previously tended to by the ER in half the time and with much greater customer service. The CDC reported that the average emergency room visit duration was 2 hours, including both wait and treatment time. Almost 80% of all urgent care visits are no more than an hour, according to The Urgent Care Association of America. Most medical walk in clinic hours extend beyond that of primary care physician?s hours, usually closing at 8 pm as opposed to the doctor’s office at 5 pm. It’s not necessary to make an appointment ahead of time when attending a walk in clinic, but doing so does shorten your wait time. From flu vaccination to minor sprains, urgent care provides emergency services in a relaxed setting. While urgent medical care is no substitute for emergency room care in the case of a life-threatening emergency, they have become a more popular alternative for patients interested in quick, inexpensive care for minor health crises.
