Medical urgent care facilities are increasing in popularity all over the United States, but there seems to be some confusion about what advantage urgent care offers over other places. The confusion over the advantage urgent care offers stems from a fundamental confusion about what urgent care is. After all, it is difficult to ascertain whether it would be more beneficial to go to an emergency room or if the advantage urgent care offers is better if you don’t know what urgent care services there are to begin with! Here are three things you might not know about your local urgent care facility:
1. They are Geared Towards Non-Life Threatening Injuries
Urgent care facilities offer a lot of different medical services for a variety of injuries, but they are ultimately meant to treat injuries that are not life threatening. They are not meant as an alternative to an emergency room for the fatally wounded; they are meant to provide medical attention for those who are injured and require immediate attention, but are not on the verge of death barring skilled medical intervention. They are meant to draw these non-lethal patients from emergency rooms in order to allow both sorts of patients to be treated more quickly and efficiently, but oftentimes folks who visit urgent care centers are asks to follow up on their diagnosis and treatments with their primary care physician just to be safe.
2. They Also Address Non-Lethal Illness
This isn’t to say that urgent care facilities are limited to just treating injuries, however. They also offer treatment for various illnesses, albeit under the same non-lethal stipulation that applies to the injuries. They can treat things like ear infections and burning fevers, but not things that require immediate attention to prevent death. Urgent care centers are well-equipped, but they are not emergency rooms, and it is a safer bet to visit the latter for real emergency cases.
3. There is No Need to Have an Appointment
Of course some cases are not life threatening but still qualify as emergencies. That is why urgent care aims to be so urgent. They try to be as available as possible for those in need; in just the United States, there are over eight thousand installations, almost two thirds of them have a physician on site at all times along with sundry nurse practitioners or physician assistants. The aim is to be as reliable and efficient with the care of all patients, lethal or not, in both urgent care centers and emergency rooms. Which do you think you would have been better suited to visiting the last time you were in medical need? Helpful links.