Going to urgent care is a lot better experience than going to the emergency room. While the emergency room definitely has it’s place and sometimes we have no choice but to go there, urgent care services have been set up in such a way that it is a much more efficient way to see patients. If there is an urgent care near you, then it would be a good idea to go there before automatically going to an emergency room. As long as your condition is not life threatening, pretty much anything can be seen at an urgent care facility. Let’s look at a few benefits of urgent care.
No Cuts
Because urgent care facilities do not take life or death situations, no on is going to show up that will be able to cut in front of you in line. Everyone is seen in the order that they arrive or in the order that they have an appointment. Yes, you can make appointments at some of these walk in facilities. It is more like a call ahead service so that you don’t have to wait in the actual lounge if you prefer not to. They can let you know about what time you would be seen and you are expected to arrive about five minutes before then, just in case.
Short Wait Time
You could spend an entire night in the emergency room before getting seen, depending on what kinds of other cases come in at the same time as you. However, urgent care centers have made it a point to make sure that the wait time is no longer than 15 or 20 minutes even if you don’t call ahead. If you are waiting longer than that, you can usually go up to the receptionist and see what the problem is and you will be placed on a priority list. If you call ahead your wait will be less than five or 10 minutes from the time you are given.
There’s Always a Doctor
A lot of people seem to think that these clinics do not have doctors or physicians. However, most of them are actually owned by doctors and they have a very vested interest in them. During opening hours there will always be at least one or two doctors on the premises, if not more. The doctor tries to see every patient but if the case does not require it then you may not see them unless you ask for one. This is simply to cut down on wait times and duration of visits.
They See Most Conditions
As long as your ailment is not life threatening, then it can be seen at a clinic. This includes everything from vaccinations to physical therapy to flu symptoms to much more. Most conditions can be seen to, diagnosed and treated at an urgent care in a much shorter space of time than an emergency room. The ER will accept everyone but the cases will be placed in order of importance. Urgent care only accepts non life threatening cases but outside of that, everything that comes in will be seen to.
The only real negative things about urgent care centers is there aren’t any yet that are 24 hours. So, if you wake up with a fever or a concerning stomach ache, you have no choice but to go to the emergency room even if you don’t feel like your condition is life threatening. Urgent care centers are usually open late, some til five, some til seven and some til nine, but if it’s after those times in your area, then the emergency room is the only other place that you can go.
Keep in mind, that if you are unsure of whether your condition is life threatening or not, your best choice is to automatically go to the emergency room. If it turns out to not be a life or death situation then you can decide whether to stay in the emergency room and wait it out or to transfer to an urgent care but it’s better to be safe than sorry. You don’t want to waste time having to be transferred from urgent care to the emergency room if your situation is life threatening.
