When to go to Urgent Care

Urgent Care

Immediate care, convenient care, after hours care, walk-in care-whatever you call it; these terms refer to Urgent care facilities and the scopes and services of these facilities are usually the same.

A real urgent care will accept patients on a walk-in basis, which makes it dramatically similar to a doctor’s office. Patients are dealt in the order they register or show up (first-come, first-served basis), no one is prioritized unless there’s an actual emergency that materialized and should be attended to right away. Due to this, seeking care is less difficult as compared to attempting a last minute appointment with your physician or heading to a crammed emergency room.

What are the benefits of having a trip to an urgent care facility?

In general, Urgent care facilities address all sorts of minor illness and injuries. The range of practice covers fever, sore throat, headache, common cold, cough, flu, allergies, rash, animal and insect bites, cuts, fractures, and sprains.

A number of Urgent care even administers routine physical checkups similar to those intended for work, sports, and camp. Furthermore, most modern day facilities have an x-ray available and are capable of conducting routine lab tests. Unless stated in the list, urgent care facilities handle patients of every age group.

Usually, the prime reason why people seek medical care at urgent care is simply because of the flexibility it provides. Your time is valuable, you can go whenever you’re free, when it agrees with your schedule, and when your doctor’s office can’t accommodate you, or is close. One more reason is, it’s not necessary to wait for extended hours, and the environment in an urgent care is truly versatile that’s why most patients prefer it as an option of care–compared with Emergency rooms that are frequently congested as you face the dread of having to wait for eons just to be addressed. Frankly speaking, if you only have a minor injury or illness, it’s very inconvenient to wait for hours in comparison to those who have severe cases.

Also, it’s not new to be pushed to the back of the line every time an ambulance arrives or other emergency situations occur. Many insurance companies offer coverage for urgent care services, because of this, it’s usually much cheaper than an emergency room visit. Although, a minimal co-payment or rebate will be requested. The cost is equal, sometimes, even less than paying a visit to your doctor.

When should I go to my own doctor or the emergency room?

Even though urgent care facilities are particularly ideal for minor health problems, they are not designed to take the place of a medical professional. Urgent care practice can handle the problems at hand but not your overall wellness. A visit to a doctor is still highly recommended for severe conditions such as hypertension, diabetes management, routine health checkups, maintenance drugs, child visits or well baby, and so forth. Your general health care should be assessed by a medical professional.

An example of potentially critical conditions; either life threatening or clearly call for intense analysis, either call 911 or head to the nearest emergency room if possible- an emergency visit is crucial. Some of the circumstances that fall under this category are chest pains that could result in a heart attack, or early symptoms of stroke, serious accidents, severe abdominal pain, loss of consciousness, and head trauma.