What will you do if a chronic disease concerns you and you cannot wait for your doctor’s appointment? Occasionally you might find it challenging to wait for two or three weeks or even days for your doctor’s appointment. However, it doesn’t indicate you must rush to an emergency room for a medical problem concerning you. On the contrary, you can receive the attention and treatment required from urgent care near me, treating minor and pre-existing chronic conditions.
Urgent care facilities help you receive the necessary treatment when necessary and not a week later or even a couple of days later. You can even receive attention for an existing condition from urgent care facilities because they are accustomed to treating minor medical emergencies of all kinds. For example, urgent care clinics generally offer treatments for asthma, chronic back pain, and pregnancy complications. Even if you have a problem that your doctor usually manages, you can visit an urgent care clinic near me for relief until you might for your next appointment with your healthcare provider.
However, do not presume you can substitute urgent care for an emergency room because if your symptoms are critical or need medical attention immediately, the better option is to visit an emergency room.
Critical Situations
Urgent care centers treat different kinds of medical situations, including flu and virus symptoms, rashes, sprains, strains, fever, dehydration, and several existing medical conditions. However, some medical problems are better managed by emergency rooms. For example, if you have a severe fracture, chest pain, numbness or tingling, seizures, and severe flu symptoms, they are better treated in an emergency room. In addition, pregnant women experiencing vaginal bleeding should visit an emergency room where more equipment is available besides more extensive treatment facilities.
How to Determine Whether Emergency Room or Urgent Care?
If you need clarification about your situation and trying to determine whether you must visit urgent care or an emergency room, it helps if you make inquiries by calling urgent care in Houston requesting their advice. The staff at urgent care centers know precisely what their facilities treat or do not. If your situation warrants a visit to the emergency room, they will guide you accordingly without compelling you to visit the facility without reason. They might even provide a referral to the nearest emergency room to ensure you get quick treatment without wasting time.
Preparing for Your Visit to Urgent Care
Before visiting any emergency room, ensure that you carry your papers and check your insurance card. Co-pays for urgent care are higher than your regular physician. However, your insurance card will have the information by listing it separately. You must also take any medication bottles with you. In addition, visit your neighborhood pharmacy that can provide information on the actual names of regular medications they may have filled.
Urgent care centers do not have records similar to your regular physician. Therefore prepare yourself to complete several forms and answer a list of questions related to your health before you receive any treatment. The process may be lengthy, especially if you are in pain. However, you help yourself by remaining patient because the forms and questions are designed to ensure you get the best possible treatment.
You may think you can get treatment faster by visiting an emergency room than an urgent care clinic. However, you might find visiting emergency rooms twice as expensive, especially if you must make repeated visits. However, urgent care clinics better address non-life-threatening conditions that do not need immediate attention from specialized equipment instead of the emergency room, where you might have to wait longer and pay higher fees for any services provided.
In addition, while you receive prompt attention from urgent care centers, emergency rooms have patients waiting in a queue because of the sheer number of patients visiting them initially, only to discover they can receive faster treatment from urgent care facilities. Therefore, if you have an urgent care clinic nearby, it is better to visit those with chronic conditions when you cannot get an appointment with your regular doctor when you need immediate attention.
Many patients rely on emergency rooms for non-urgent medical care, most of which are avoidable. Preventive healthcare enables people to receive annual screenings at the doctor’s office. However, doctors are unavailable on weekends, but urgent care clinics are open. In addition, urgent care centers do not require an appointment and will treat patients upon arrival at the facility. Therefore if you need treatment for a chronic disease, kindly do not hesitate to visit NeuMed Modern Urgent Care to receive the treatment required to improve your medical condition.
