When Should You Visit Urgent Care
With so many health options available today it might be difficult to decide where to go when you have a problem. Do you make an appointment with your family physician for a cough, or walk into an urgent care clinic? There are pros and cons to each type of care and time to visit each place. In this article, we will look at when you should visit each one.
Family Physician
A family physician has access to your medical history and records. They should be your first choice for medical visits. The doctor will know what you are allergic to, and know if your symptoms are part of some health problem you already have. A family physician can manage chronic health problems, and treat any non-life-threatening illness. If your physician can not help you, they can refer you to a specialist. Insurance will usually pay at least a part of the physician’s fee, but a co-payment may be due when you visit.
Urgent Care Centers
If you become ill and for some reason can not see your physician, then you can go to the urgent care clinics. Urgent care clinics are open when regular doctors offices are usually closed, late in the afternoon and on the weekends. Urgent Care also has a low wait time only taking 30 to go minutes versus the hours you would wait in the ER. Go to the urgent care clinic if you have symptoms such as ear pain, stomach pain, fever without a rash, or minor trauma. The Urgent Care Clinic will take insurance if it is in your insurance companies network.
Some people might confuse urgent care with an ER. Never go to an urgent care clinic if you think you have a life-threatening issue such as chest pain, or major trauma. If you go to an urgent care clinic with life-threatening symptoms, the doctor will send you to the ER instead. It will be a waste of valuable time and money. If you need to find an urgent care center near you, search for urgent care centers Tustin ca to find the closest ones available.
ER
You should only go to the ER if you are having an emergency, and you can not wait to see the family physician. An emergency situation includes severe trauma such as a broken bone, or car accident, severe pain, trouble breathing, and any head trauma. According to a study in 2017, the rate of people who made unnecessary ER visits was only 3 percent. People usually are good at judging if their medical problem is an emergency or not. There may be a wait in the ER, with preference given to those with the most life-threatening injuries.
These are the three major type of health facilities. Each one has its own purpose. There may be a time when you benefit from visiting one over the other. For example, if you have an ear infection but can not get an appointment with your doctor, you can go to an urgent care clinic. Together they work to provide you with care for every situation.