3 Reasons Parents Should Keep Urgent Care in Mind
Everyone knows that if you face a serious medical emergency, you need to head straight to the ER; no ifs, ands, or buts about it. However, for less serious or minor injuries, visiting the ER is actually counterproductive – it takes a long time, is very expensive, and takes time away from those who really need it. Yes, For minor injuries, an urgent care facility is just the thing for most parents and their families. Let’s take a look at three big advantages urgent care brings to the table over scheduling an appointment or using the ER:
- It’s Faster – Most urgent care facilities offer extended hours of operations, and can quickly and easily see a patient within an hour or so. Think about it! In the ER, if a car crash victim comes in – that person is going to take priority over your broken finger. Which is how it should be! The end result for you being that you usually have to wait hours just to be placed in an exam room!
- Some urgent cares even have imaging equipment and a lab. So instead of being sent to different buildings by your regular doctor, you can get everything done in one place – and get your results back much faster. When separate locations share records, paperwork has to be faxed or emailed, and the timetables involved are a lot longer. At these types of urgent cares, it is a matter of walking a report down a hallway to your doctor.
- It’s Cheaper – Every hour spent in the ER can cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars.An urgent care facility is able to treat minor injuries just as well as the ER at a significantly lower cost. Many urgent cares will bill as an office visit, which insurance companies really seem to like. Instead of having the much higher deductible for your ER visit, you’ll just pay your normal copay!
- It Keeps the ER Free – Finally, using urgent care helps to keep your local ER free for the folks that really need it most. People who’ve been in car crashes, who’ve had heart attacks, or who’ve had any other life threatening injury belong at an ER. Minor broken bones, smaller cuts that need stitches, anything that needs immediate care, but isn’t an emergency – those are the cases urgent cares were made for.
So if someone in your family needs treatment for minor injuries or issues, such as small burns, sprains, an ear infection, the flu, or a broken bone, consider heading to urgent care rather than the ER.