Whether you’re dealing with an immediate emergency, like a bad cut or a fracture, or something more lingering — you shouldn’t hesitate to get medical help. Yet lots of people don’t know what their options are when it comes to be treated. Lots of people assume that they either need to make an appointment with their primary care physicians, or, in more serious situations, turn to emergency room care. However, there are drawbacks to these more “traditional” options. You have to wait in both cases; at the doctor’s office, you have to make an appointment, often at least a day in advance, and even then you often aren’t seen immediately. A simple doctor’s appointment can derail your entire day. At an emergency room, patients are seen based on priority — therefore, if you aren’t experiencing a life or death issue, you’ll likely have to wait for at least one person to be seen before you. Both options can cost a good bit of money, especially in the case of emergency room visits — though appointment at the doctor’s office can also be costly, depending on your insurance policy. With that being said, it’s important that people consider urgent care clinics as alternatives. Urgent care clinics often have doctors on staff — in fact, it’s possible that the same doctor you would see at your doctor’s office or the emergency room also works at an urgent care clinic. You can also look up doctors ratings to ensure that the doctors who work at an urgent care clinic are exactly who you need to see. Below, we’ll look into some of the services offered by urgent care centers.
1. Upper Respiratory Problems
Maybe it’s a cough you just can’t shake; or perhaps you think it’s a really bad cold. No matter what’s bothering you, when it comes to upper respiratory problems, you shouldn’t play around. Often, these issues can start small and get out of hand quickly — the last thing you want is for a minor infection to progress into pneumonia. Urgent care clinics have people on hand to not only diagnose but treat upper respiratory conditions. Often, the treatment requires medications like antibiotics, which can be easily prescribed by urgent care physicians. Again, if you’re not sure whether or not an urgent care center has doctors on staff, you can always call ahead — and check on the doctors ratings if need be. Most likely, whatever your issue is has been seen by the doctors on call many times before; in 2012, the most common urgent care center diagnosis was that of an upper respiratory condition, with the most common procedure being wound care.
2. Fracture And Sprain Care
Whether you have a sprain or a fracture, you probably will have to take a break from regular activities for a day or two — and you should consider visiting an urgent care center for further treatment. An estimated four out of five urgent care centers offer fracture care. But while a lot of people realize that fractures require medical care, many leave sprains untreated. As 25,000 Americans suffer ankle sprains every day, that means that a lot of people have a medical condition that they aren’t treating properly. Again, these are the kinds of problems that can start small and quickly become major. You should check out the doctors ratings for your local urgent care center; many are highly experienced when it comes to giving great care in a timely manner.
3. STD Testing
Lots of people dread being tested for STDs — but if you aren’t being tested, you’re risking your health and that of your partners. With that being said, you should consider being tested at an urgent care center. As you’ll discover when looking at the doctors ratings of a typical center, urgent care medical professionals are non-judgmental and discreet. You can get your tests done quickly and at an affordable rate. That way, you’ll know whether or not you have anything to worry about, and can act accordingly.