Urgent Medical Care for the Busy Parent
If you are a working parent with school age children, it is likely that time is a rare resource in your home. It probably feels like you are constantly coming and going from sun up to sun down. You have little time for relaxation, let alone medical problems. Unfortunately, medical problems and emergencies do not usually find a suitable time to come around. Fortunately, with many local urgent care locations, you can receive the medical care you need in a timely manner.
Back to school physicals and vaccinations
Many schools today require that students receive back to school physicals, before attending school. This is an important disease prevention requirement. Scheduling time with your primary physician and sitting for hours in your doctor?s office for a simple back to school physical can be a waste of time. If you decide to get vaccinations, such as the flu vaccination, this can also be put off, due to time restraints. Your local urgent care locations, however, provide both back to school physicals and routine vaccinations. You can receive the medical services you need, without disrupting your busy schedule.
Cold and flu symptoms
Nothing puts a damper on your busy work and school schedules like coming down with the flu or cold symptoms. These symptoms can leave you feeling groggy and tired and make it difficult to go about your normal day. Although physicians cannot necessarily give you a cure for the flu or common cold, they can evaluate if it is due to a bacterial infection. They can also recommend over the counter symptom reducers that will help you get back to your normal schedule faster.
Common playground injuries
Playground injuries are those minor injuries that happen at school or on the playground. These injuries are usually a bloody nose, sprained ankle, or even a broken arm. It is normal to panic when you get a call that your child was injured on the playground. With local urgent care locations, you have more after hours options than your local emergency room. You can receive the same advanced urgent care that you would in a hospital emergency room, at your local urgent care location. The only difference is that you will likely see a physician much sooner. According to a survey by the Urgent Care Association of America, 57% of patients wait 15 minutes or less to be seen, and about 80% of all visits are 60 minutes or less.
Fall allergies
This fall, hundreds of thousands of people will be met with fall allergies. The changing of the seasons increases allergies for many people. If you find your allergies to be especially troublesome this year, you may want to make a visit with your primary provider. However, this could take a lot of time out of your busy work week. Urgent care locations are also familiar with allergy symptoms and treatments and can provide the same medical care that your primary physician would. You will find the longer business hours to be convenient. The majority of centers remain open until 7PM or later on weeknights (90.6%), with two out of five remaining open until 9PM or later.
Prescription refills
Have you ever reached for your prescription bottle late at night, only to find that you forgot to have it refilled? This is common, especially when you have a hectic schedule. With local urgent care locations, you no longer have to wait for your physician?s office to reopen to refill your prescription. One of the biggest advantages of urgent care centers is the convenience and easy access to a physician. Approximately 40% of urgent care centers use electronic prescription ordering systems, with substantially larger proportions using computerized systems for viewing lab and imaging results, collecting patient demographics, billing, condition and procedure coding, and clinical notes. This automated system increases the speed that you can be in and out.
The urgent care center is the perfect solution for the busy parent who is constantly on the go. You no longer have to give up your valuable time to sit in a physician?s office. Your local urgent care can provide you with the same medical care, at a faster and more convenient speed.
