When experiencing a health problem, it is important to know where you should go for help. If it is an ongoing problem, you can schedule an appointment with your family care physicians. However, if it is an immediate problem, you may need to see a doctor faster than you can get into your primary care physician.
If the health problem is an emergent need like an accident, injury, chest pain, or other emergency concern, the best place to go is the emergency room. Emergency rooms are intended for emergency health problems.
However, national wait times in the United States have increased to almost an hour on average. This is due to people going to the emergency room when their health concern is not an emergent need. Emergency rooms are bogged down with people seeking medical help for strep throat, colds, sprained ankles, and common testing.
When the health concern is not an immediate health emergency, the best place to go is a medical walk in clinic or after hours urgent care. These types of urgent care facilities are designed to treat a wide range of health problems including cold, flu, strep throat, pink eye, soar throats, and more.
They are also designed to treat minor injuries including sprained ankles, lacerations, swelling, and other complications from minor falls and hits. Urgent care facilities can also be used for after hours care for those unable to take off work to see the doctor, children unable to miss school to go to the doctor and more.
A walk in health clinic can also provide sports physicals, std testing, and other non-urgent health concerns for those unable to get into their primary care physician in a timely manner.
For many parents, urgent care facilities are ideal for dealing with child illnesses and injuries. They are open when it is convenient for the parents and it does not require making an appointment in advance, which is a huge benefit for many not knowing when they will be off work or available to go.
Urgent care facilities are also ideal if you aren’t sure if you need the emergency room. For falls that result in swelling and pain, but you are’t sure you broke anything. An urgent care is less expensive, and if there is something wrong that requires a highly level of medical attention, they can refer you to the emergency room.
In many areas, getting help through the primary care physician or even the emergency room is costly, timely, and hard to attain. Many areas don’t have quick access to an emergency room as well. In all of these situations, an urgent care facility fills the immediate need for many patients.
