Every day, many Americans young and old will get hurt or ill, and they may need some professional medical treatment, such as at urgent care clinics or even emergency care centers. It is important to note that an urgent care center and an emergency care center are two different things, since urgent care is for minor medical cases and emergency care is for serious cases. If a victim needs help, then a person can look up nearby medical care, such as “urgent care urgent care in albuquerque NM”, or “emergency care services near me.” Such a search can be refined further, such as “24 hour urgent care urgent care in albuquerque” to find a clinic that is open 24 hours a day. Looking online will show the hours, name, and address of each medical site nearby. What can someone expect when they look up “urgent care urgent care in albuquerque”? Or how about emergency care providers?
Emergency Care Done Right
Going to emergency care is best for serious and even life-threatening medical cases, which are too serious for urgent care clinics to handle. At emergency clinics and a hospital’s ER, doctors and physicians will have the proper training and medicine to stabilize a patient and get them out of harm’s way. For example, a patient at emergency care might have a broken arm or leg, or they may have suffered trauma to the head or eyeballs. Bullet wounds and stab wounds will also merit a visit to the ER, and such wounds may be bleeding heavily, too. Chest pain or difficulty breathing are best treated at emergency services, since those conditions might turn life threatening at any moment, if they are not already. As for abdominal pain, most cases are in fact harmless, but if the pain is severe, sudden, or long-lasting, a trip to the ER is advisable. The underlying cause might be quite serious, such as internal bleeding or even cancer.
It may be noted that visiting emergency care centers for minor medical cases is not advisable, since the ER is expensive and time consuming to visit. And patients whose lives are in danger may need that space in the ER instead. For minor cases, urgent care centers are the best option, but what if it’s not clear what level of care a patient might need? For these unclear cases, the victim can be taken to a hybrid clinic, or one that offers both urgent and emergency care services side by side. Those clinics might appear among results for either an urgent care or emergency care center search.
All About Urgent Care
Meanwhile, urgent care centers can efficiently treat medical cases that are minor enough so that the ER is not necessary to treat them. The good news is that while young, the urgent care clinic industry is rapidly growing across the United States. Over 2,000 urgent care sites can be found, and they tend to be small, independent clinics that are staffed with nurse practitioners and physicians. A local search may reveal several of them at once, such as “urgent care near me boston MA” or “urgent care urgent care in albuquerque NM”. Sometimes, these clinics are known to form small local networks with one another. Typically, a clinic that is running smoothly may see three patients per hour, and a guest may expect a wait time of around 15 minutes. This is often much faster and cheaper than visiting the ER. Many such clinics are found in strip malls, but some may be built into large retailers or even in hospitals. Hospital clinics offer distinct care and staff from the hospital at large.
At an urgent care center, a guest may visit the pharmacy to pick up a prescription drug refill, and they may may also get medicinal relief from the common cold and flu during influenza season. Meanwhile, four in five walk in clinics offers treatment for bone fractures, and nearly all of them can also treat wrist or ankle sprains, which are common injuries. The nurses on staff can provide stitches and bandages for shallow cuts and wounds, and they may also offer lotion and ointment for skin rashes and sunburn. Upper respiratory issues are another common reason to visit urgent care clinics.