Day: October 13, 2015

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Urgent care aurora co Urgent care center Urgent care englewood

Little-Known Facts About Urgent Care

Englewood urgent care

While many know of urgent care due to their recent growth rate, there are numerous things that the average person doesn’t know about the centers. They are able to provide more care than most people know, with longer hours available and less wait time than many other medical care options. Read on for a few things you may not know about these great facilities.

  • About 60% of urgent care facilities have wait times of 15 minutes or less, and 65% have a physician on-site at all-times.

  • A survey done by The Urgent Care Association of America proved the small wait times, and also showed that 80% of all visits last 60 minutes or less.

  • About 66% of urgent care facilities open before 9:00 am on weekdays, with 45.7% opening at the same time on Saturdays and 31.1% at the same time on Sundays.

  • About 90.6% of urgent care centers stay open until 7:00 pm on weeknights, while two out of five are open until 9:00 pm or later.

  • One in every five urgent cares see over 450 patients per week.

  • About 70% of centers are able to provide intravenous fluids if needed.

  • Around half of ER patients only seek medical care at an ER because their primary physicians’ office was closed, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

  • Four out of five, or 80%, of centers are able to provide fracture care to their patients.

  • Physicians, or groups of physicians, own about half of all urgent care centers.

  • About 40% of urgent cares now use electronic prescription ordering systems, in addition to many using computerized systems for viewing lab and imaging results, collecting patient demographics, billing, condition and procedure coding, and notes.

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Bipap mask Sleep apnea mask Using a cpap machine

The Danger of Untreated Sleep Apnea

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Many people are at least aware of a condition called sleep apnea, but not many people are familiar with sleep apnea causes, treatments, or even what exactly the condition entails. With about 18 million Americans suffering from the condition, it is important to be educated on the subject, so that there are more people able to get diagnosed and treated. With a condition such as sleep apnea, treatment is of the utmost importance.

The condition is characterized by numerous instances during a person’s sleep where their throat or mouth relaxes too much, effectively blocking their airways. When the person stops breathing, it often wakes them up with a start. On average, someone suffering from this will have up to 60 apneas an hour, leading to sleep being difficult or nearly impossible. It also causes many scary health issues.

About one in 50, or 2 to 4%, of all Americans are dealing with an undiagnosed case of sleep apnea. Leaving this condition untreated however, leaves people four times more likely to suffer a stroke and three times more likely to develop heart disease than those who are unaffected. They are also open to all of the issues that come with a lack of sleep. These consequences range from weight gain, depression, and aging, to loss of concentration and/or focus, to diabetes, and even death.

Luckily, treatments have become more available, with a range of treatments offered. Sleep apnea machines such as BiPAP masks and CPAP masks are the most popular of the treatments. These machines pump air through the mask, maintaining “positive airway pressure” throughout the night. It makes it impossible for the airway to close, allowing you to sleep soundly. It also reduces your risk for the consequences that can come from having this condition.