When your regular doctor is not available and you can’t wait for the appointment on the next day, urgent care centers are there to help you.
Difference between urgent care centers, walk-in clinics, and Emergency Rooms.
There is a slight difference between urgent care centers and emergency rooms because both require treatment immediately. But there is a distinct difference between emergency rooms, walk-in clinics, and urgent care centers that you should know. It depends on the level of care that is provided at each center. If you have a sudden illness or an injury that you can easily address with your primary care doctor or family physician or at the urgent care center, then you should avoid going to emergency rooms. Emergency departments of any hospital are available twenty-four hours a week for providing medical care that might be life-threatening. Emergency rooms are equipped with staff who are trained in treating limb-threatening and life-threatening situations such as heart attack, stroke, traumatic injury due to car accidents, etc.
When you should go to ER?
Several medical conditions need to be addressed quickly because they need the advance and rapid treatment like surgery etc. Such treatments are only available in hospital settings. Medical conditions that can only be treated at emergency rooms are:
- Chest pain
- Difficulty in breathing
- Weakness
- Numbness on one side
- Slurred speech
- Fainting
- Change in mental state
- Serious burns
- Head injury or eye injury
- Concussion
- Confusion
- Broken bones and
- Dislocated joints
- Fever with the rash
- Seizures
- A severe type of cuts that require stitches immediately
- Facial lacerations
- Severe cold or flu symptoms
- Vaginal bleeding during pregnancy
When to go urgent care center?
Urgent care centers should not be confused with emergency rooms. According to the study conducted by NATIONAL CENTER FOR HEALTH, forty-eight percent of patients visited ER because the doctor’s clinic was not open. People usually visit ER for minor illnesses or injuries because they don’t know they have another option of the urgent care center. Urgent care centers can be defined as the same daycare clinics that can handle a variety of medical conditions that need to be treated immediately but not in an emergency. Symptoms that can be easily treated and evaluated at urgent care centers are;
- Throwing up
- High fever
- Hard breathing
- Dehydration
- Small injuries in the form of cuts
If you are suffering from a disease you already know about it like urinary tract infections, or your child is having an ear infection then you should visit your primary care doctor because he already has your medical history and knows how to overcome it. You can visit urgent care center when your primary physician is not available. But urgent care centers are not the substitute for your primary care doctor; they can give their services when your health care provider is not available. Urgent care is available for diagnosis and treatment twenty-four hours of the week.
Services provided at urgent care centers: (1)
Here is the list of services that are provided at urgent care centers:
Injury care:
- Abdominal pain
- Abscess and cysts
- Asthma
- Burn treatment
- Foreign body removal
- Fractures and dislocations
- Laceration repair
- Sprains and strains
Illness care
- Bronchitis and pneumonia
- Cough and cold
- Fever
- Flu treatment
- Hand, foot, and mouth
- Headache and migraine
- In house mono
- Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea
- Pink eye
- Rapid strep
- Sore throat
- Upper respiratory infections
Family care
- Allergies
- Asthma
- Bug bites
- Cuts and scrapes
- Ear infection
- Flu shot
- Hand, foot, mouth
- Pediatrics
- Pink eye
- Rashes
- School, sport, and camp physicals
- Tetanus vaccine
- Wellness physicals
Women’s health
- Pregnancy testing
- Abscess and cysts
- Bladder infection
- Headaches and migraines
- Pap smear
- STD testing
- Urinary tract infection
Labs, testing, and X-rays
- Biometric screening
- Drug testing
- High blood pressure
- In House Mono
- Pregnancy testing
- Rapid strep
- Sports, school, and camp physicals
- STD testing
- TB Tests
- Wellness and employment physicals
- X-rays
Other services
- Athletes foot
- Wart removal
- Bladder infection
- Bug bites
- Ear irrigation
- Food poisoning
- Hemorrhoids
- Jock itch
- Lipo-B injections
- Rashes
- Skin tag removal
- Tick removal
- Urinary tract infections
- Vitamin B-12 injections
Top urgent care centers 2021 (2)
Here is the list of top urgent care centers that are providing their services for many last years.
- Concentra
It is a national company of healthcare that focuses on one patient at one time. They provide services of occupational medicine, physical therapy, urgent care, and wellness service through their affiliated clinicians. Concentra provides more than one hundred and forty medical facilities of health facilities. It is a broad range of medical care facilities that treat employers as well.
- MedExpress Urgent care
In sixteen states it has 180 sites. Optum is the division of UNITED HEALTH-GROUP that acquired MedExpress in April 2015. They provide medical services for symptoms that should be treated the same day.
- S healthWorks
It has one hundred and seventy-four sites in twenty-one states. It is a subsidiary of Dignity health. It offers services of occupational medicine therapy, therapy care, and special services with the help of qualified and trained medical staff. According to the data collected from merchant medicine, this largest chain is run by the hospital or multi-specialty group.
- American Family care and Doctors Express
This urgent care center is located in 163 sites in 21 states in the United States. The first family care
The urgent center was opened in Birmingham in 1982. In 2013, AMERICAN FAMILY CARE acquired doctor express. It was predicted that this chain will operate more than 200 clinics by the end of 2016.
- NextCare Urgent Care
They operate in 137 sites in 10 states. NextCare urgent center is operated by Nexcare Holdings, which offers the services of occupational medicines. The comprehensive approach of this urgent care center is to ensure the highest level of patient care from reception to recovery.
- FastMed Urgent Care
This urgent care center is present at one hundred and nine sites in three states. The owner of FastMed urgent care center gives the facilities in Arizona, North Carolina, and Texas. This center is managed by ABRY Partners.
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