Urgent care services provide on the spot medical aid for chronic or acute ailments and some injuries or non-threatening conditions to the patients. Urgent care services are brought about with close association of medical experts i.e., doctors and specialists.

Urgent care is not an alternate to primary care practitioner. An urgent care facility is an opportunity when a medical physician is not available or patient is not able to get an appointment in an urgency.   Despite of waiting in an emergency room, urgent care centers provide a convenient option for seeking immediate medical treatment or advice.

Practitioners in an urgent care need more advanced knowledge of the medical field as they have to encounter patients with different ailments than those of specialists who deal with some common diseases. Urgent Care practitioners provide their services to both females and males of any age without discrimination.

Difference[i] between an emergency room and urgent care centers

An emergency room deals with conditions that are life threatening and immediate medical service is needed, will cause death if treated properly within time. On the contrary urgent care doctors treat patients who are not threatened to death.

If someone have an acute, minor ailment or an injury, urgent care is the best option to go while chronic diseases are best treated in emergency rooms. For example, a slight pain in ear or stomach can be easily treated in urgent care. But if ear pain starts in a cancer patient, emergency room is best.

Urgent care centers are open for a limited period of time while Emergency rooms are available 24 hours a week. Moreover, specialists like radiologist, cardiologist, oncologist, are readily accessible in an emergency center.

Emergency departments are well equipped with laboratory testing and imaging for diagnosis while urgent care centers are provided with only basic testing facilities like x-rays. Moreover, urgent care is more economical than an emergency room.

24 hours urgent care

Some urgent care centers are open for certain period of time i.e., 7a.m to 12a.m. While there are some urgent cares that provide medical assistance to the patient without any time limit and serve 24 hours and 7 days a week. This facilitates the patients to visit them any time for an urgent treatment.  A doctor or medical practitioner is available every time to seek medical advice. They provide an immediate service.

Diseases treated in an urgent care setting

The services that do not need an immediate attention or prove life threatening, but general medical attention to prevent that disease to be a life threat are dealt with in an urgent care.  The staff at the urgent care are professionals trained to deal with various patients priding best possible services and advices. They can administer intravenous medications if the situation demands so. The conditions that require an urgent care can be:

  • Any Allergy or rashes
  • Nausea or vomiting
  • Backache
  • High fever
  • Conjunctivitis (Pink eye)
  • Diarrhea
  • Sinus problem
  • Infection of ear or eye
  • Pharyngitis
  • Strains
  • Infection of the respiratory track
  • Urinary tract infections
  • Injuries or wounds
  • Minor cuts and fractures
  • Headache
  • Abscess or ulcer
  • Burns

Other services [ii]

Some of the most common medical services provided by an urgent care clinic:

  • Vaccinations:all vaccinations i.e., for measles, mumps, polio, flu, covid, and so on are administered in an urgent care center without any prior appointment needed.
  • Non-life-threatening conditions:these local service providers are staffed with expect practitioners, specialists, and nurses that provide the same treatment as expected from other much expensive community doctors.
  • Minor injuries:local urgent care centers are best to get an emergency first aid in case of any injury, small fracture, burns, cuts, and sprains if the situation is not life threatening.
  • School and sports physicals:These clinics provide a complete examination to assess the physical fitness of kids and adults for schools and sports.

Lab Services offered by Urgent Care Centers

Some basic laboratory services for diagnosis are provided by urgent health care. These lab tests are accompanied with treatment and diagnosis. There is not any difference among the diagnostic testing offered by an urgent care facility, an emergency room or a private physiologist. Following diagnostic testing services are given by urgent care:

  • Blood tests including BSR, CBC, etc.
  • Electrolyte evaluation
  • Tests for STD (sexually transmitted diseases)
  • pregnancy testing
  • Urine analysis
  • Screening tests for Drugs
  • Stool test
  • Rapid antigen test
  • Strep tests for sore throat

Advantages of urgent care services

There are a wide range of benefits associated with urgent care services

  1. Reasonable prices

People usually rush to emergency centers with conditions that are not life-threatening. Emergency rooms are too expensive with respect to urgent care facilities.  While urgent care provides the same treatment as people expect from the emergency rooms with fair prices.

  1. Accessibility

Urgent care setups do not require an extensive handling and management as large medical centers, so the concept of urgent care facilities in extending day by day. It is easier to find an urgent care center nearby despite of rushing to a far of medical hospital in an urgency.

  1. Immediate service

As urgent care facilities are open most of the time of the day, it can be assessed any time in hour of need. Patients do not need any prior appointment and they don’t have to wait in long ques for their turn. Doctors provide more attention and time to the patients.

  1. Better care of the patients

Although, urgent care center is not as extensive as other medical facilities but they are well staffed with trained, provide the patient with quality treatment as larger medical facilities provide. They diagnose the patient more effectively and efficiently as doctors spend more time with the patient.

Urgent care services near me

Some of the urgent care facilities in New York city are:

  • New York Urgent Care
  • New York Doctors Urgent Care
  • Manhatten Emergency Med Services
  • Northwell Health-Go Health Urgent Care
  • Mount Sinai Doctors-638 Columbus Avenue
  • Midtown New York Doctors Urgent Care
  • MedRite Urgent Care, Midtown West, NYC
  • CityMD West 88th Urgent Care – NYC

[i] https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/emergency-vs-urgent-care-whats-the-difference

 

[ii] https://www.solvhealth.com/blog/what-services-do-urgent-care-centers-provide