Your medical needs might not reach the level of needing an emergency room, yet your primary care doctor's office isn't open. Maybe you have recently moved and you haven't signed up with a new physician yet. If you get injured but you don't really think you need to go to an emergency room, you can get care at a walk-in urgent care center. With the ability to diagnose and treat problems from allergic reactions to broken bones, it is not always necessary to wait at an emergency room for care. Urgent care centers can treat the flu, colds, infections, cuts, bruises and many other conditions so that you don't have to waste your time in an emergency room.
Diagnostic Care at Your Urgent Care Center
When you go to a walk-in urgent care center, you will get the diagnostic care you need to figure out what is going on to cause your pain or other symptoms. You might have X-Rays, or blood drawn to determine the cause of your illness. You will go through a thorough medical exam, just as you would at your primary care doctor's office or at the emergency room. If there are any concerns that warrant your need for a hospital, your treatment provider will facilitate a move.
Communication With Your Medical Providers
If you go to a walk-in urgent care center because your primary care physician's office wasn't open, understand that the urgent care center will communicate with your physician's office. The notes from your visit, the diagnosis, and any follow-up that is needed will be addressed. If you don't have a primary care physician, the urgent care center may even call you to find out if you have followed up with the treatment recommended.
Understanding the Levels of Medical Care
Your primary care physician may not always have availability, or the office could be closed. Urgent care centers allow you to see a doctor at your convenience, and you get a high level of care for all of your medical needs that can't wait for your doctor's office to be open. Emergency care should be saved for true emergencies to help with minimizing the long wait times some patients experience when trying to receive care.
Walk-in urgent care centers play an integral role in your overall care. It's a great way to get the treatment you need, without having to sit at an emergency room for something that is not a true emergency.
If you want to learn more about walk-in urgent care centers, reach out to companies like La Costa Urgent Care.