The Who, What, Where of Urgent Care Clinics
So it’s not the 1950s and you do not have an elderly, good-natured doctor available to pay you a house call every time you get the sniffles. You’re not alone. What you and many sick and soon-to-be-sick people need is a professional urgent care clinic with your good health in mind. An urgent care clinic is great for those of us without a regular doctor, and who knows, you may just find one that you can visit and revisit. Don’t be afraid, there are great options out there. One just needs to know what to look for.
Who: First and foremost make sure that you find an urgent care clinic staffed by a good doctor. Believe it or not many clinics are not staffed by doctors, but by what are called nurse practitioners. Nurse practitioners are a fine bunch, they are committed to helping people, but it is more important to find an urgent care clinic staffed by a board-certified doctor. When you are sick you want the best of the best. You want a doctor.
What: Find a place that offers a wide array of medical help, not a specialty clinic. Specialty clinics are awesome when you have a specific problem, but when looking for an urgent care clinic you want a general practitioner-in other words, a doctor with a large variety of skills. You want to find a clinic that can handle anything from a basic physical needed for a job to the diagnosis of a major illness. This usually includes a clinic that has or that is affiliated with a laboratory so that blood work and test results can be relied upon for accuracy and speed.
Where: This is more important than you may think. When we are healthy we do not think about jumping in the car or on mass transit to travel. When we are ill the last thing we want to do is spend a lot of time getting to the place that will heal us. For this reason, find an urgent care clinic that is located directly near you or better yet, one that is located in the middle of your city of residence. A clinic in the middle of a city is not only of close proximity, but has the added benefit of seeing a variety of patients of all ages and illnesses. This means that their experience is varied; exactly what you want in an urgent care clinic.
Remember that when searching for the urgent care clinic that may well become your main source of healthcare that you feel comfortable with them. Even the sound of a person’s voice over the phone can be an indicator of a clinic that cares. Good luck in your search and remember that your good health is the most important thing you have.
