Are You Injured Enough For the ER? You May Need an Urgent Care Clinic Instead

Medical care is an essential part of our culture. Flu vaccinations and other preventive care aside, it is the emergencies that cause stress. Dialing 911 in a crisis situation makes sense, and most people have the presence of mind to know the role they need to play in such an instance. But what about those times when the injury does not warrant an ambulance, and yet it’s not a problem that should be left for the morning? Medical urgent care may be your answer.

You could head to an emergency room, and deal with triage. If an injury or illness threatens life or limb, by all means go to the emergency room or call 911. To break that commandment down further, excessive bleeding from lacerations; a gunshot wound; a fever over 105 in an adult or 101 in an infant; if someone is experiencing chest pains; or if someone has lost consciousness are all emergencies. Once you are at the ER, the nurses there will see you when the more severe cases are taken care of first.

So what if you or someone else doesn’t have any of those ailments? The problem then, is not threatening your life, nor is it likely that you will lose a limb shortly. There are still dozens of problems that may not be on that list, and yet should not be ignored. It may even be unreasonable to wait for your doctor to have an open appointment time. This is where medical urgent care comes in, and it may save you some time in the emergency room later.

So what is urgent care? An urgent care clinic is a facility that on average, will have a wait time of about 15 minutes (60%), a physician on-site (65%), and be open until about 7:00pm (90.6%). About two out of five actually stay open until 9:00pm. This is great news, because accidents seem to always happen outside of normal doctor’s hours. Medical urgent care centers will have different offerings, such as some offering fracture care (about 80%) and others not. It will save you trouble down the line if you look up the nearest urgent care centers in your area and see which clinics offer what services.

No one likes being hurt. No one likes being sick. And we all hate waiting. Medical urgent care centers are becoming more popular because they offer convenience. Do your future self a favor and familiarize yourself with the closest urgent care center near you. That way, the next time you are experiencing an urgent situation you’ll be able to stay calm, because you know what to do.