Types Of Care Provided By Urgent Care Centers

14 October 2020

Jaime Allen

In the last decades, urgent care facilities have been established in nearly every city in the United States. These medical care centers provide a variety of different medical services, accept walk-in patients, and usually remain open for evening hours after other doctor's offices have closed. While urgent care centers do not treat every illness or injury that emergency room facilities do, they are very capable of caring for patients who have an immediate need for certain types of minor medical treatment. These are some of the types of care provided by urgent care centers.

Non Emergency Illnesses

Urgent care centers regularly treat those who suffer from the common cold and flu symptoms, skin rashes, viruses, ear infections, or sinus infections. The physicians who provide care in urgent care centers can treat these conditions in the same way a family doctor would. The patient is examined and questioned about their symptoms, a diagnosis is made, and prescription medications are prescribed for treatment. Normally the urgent care doctor will advise the patient to return to the urgent care center or follow up with their family doctor if the symptoms do not subside within a few days after the medication has been taken.

Minor Injuries

A doctor in an urgent care center can also treat minor injuries. This includes minor burns, sprained ankles or wrists, small cuts, and various bumps or bruises. If the urgent care physician feels the injury is too severe to be treated at the center, they will send the patient on to the emergency department of a local hospital where they can be fully treated. For instance, if a patient believes they have sprained their ankle and the X-ray performed at the urgent care center shows the ankle is actually fractured, the patient will be sent to the emergency department so the bone can be set properly.

Diagnostic Testing

Some diagnostic tests can also be performed at urgent care centers. This includes testing for illnesses such as the flu, STDs, or diabetes. X-rays can be done to see if the patient has a broken bone and chest X-rays can be performed to determine if a patient may have pneumonia or bronchitis. Some urgent care centers have labs that can provide the results of diagnostic tests to patients while they are there, but some may need to send tests to the local hospital which will provide results within 24–48 hours.

Urgent care centers are also ideal for those who need to have health physicals done for sports, school, employment, or other reasons. Physicals can be performed after school or work hours so that patients do not have to make adjustments to their schedules.

For more information, contact a center like 75th St Injury & Illness Center.

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