Category: Health clinic for women

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Knowing The Difference Between Urgent Care And The Emergency Room Could Save You Hundreds

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Your personal health isn’t fun to think about. You have to consider your budget (which may or may not be its own source of stress), dig through your options and stay attentive to changes in the American healthcare system. Just like your parents teaching you how to floss your teeth and wash behind your ears, however, looking after your day-to-day health is a necessity you carry with you for life. It exists in the small actions. This includes knowing when to visit your regular doctor or when to seek out an emergency walk in clinic.

Rather than blow your budget on the wrong visit, become better acquainted with the function of your unique health resources.

Quick Facts

Too many Americans lose hundreds of dollars in the emergency room when they could have instead dropped by an urgent care clinic. The purpose of urgent care is to give you fast and efficient attention for minor to moderate issues, while the emergency room is only for life-threatening situations. The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey recently reported that the average ER visitor will pay over $1,300. The average wait time in the ER can also be less than an hour to over an hour. What do you do when you’re not sure which option to choose in a tense situation?

Abdominal Issues

A very common medical condition causing people to seek out an emergency walk in clinic or urgent care facility is abdominal pain. Due to the rather ambiguous nature of these symptoms it can be hard for many to know why they are feeling nauseous, sore or unable to eat. Abdominal issues can be caused by work-related stress, chronic anxiety disorder and poor diet. It can also be caused by an infection, food poisoning or dehydration. Minor to moderate pain is best suited for urgent care. Severe agony, however, should require an emergency walk in clinic.

STD Testing

Family health care needs to cover the basics to ensure you’re prepared for anything life throws your way. This means seeking out fast STD testing regardless of whether or not you’re sexually active. It doesn’t take long to be tested for common strains of sexually transmitted disease. You can also learn about safer methods of sex, such as using hormonal birth control or managing better personal hygiene before and after. STD testing is a private matter and, as such, is confidential regardless of whether or not you see your doctor or go to a community health clinic.

Mental Health

Mental wellness is just as valid as physical wellness. When you feel your mood dipping far more often than is normal and you’re unable to function like you used to, the first step is to seek out a therapist to diagnose your condition. The CDC (short for Centers For Disease Control And Prevention) has seen rates of depression increasing in elderly populations, while anxiety disorder is very common in young adults. Signs you may be suffering include loss of appetite, difficulty sleeping, racing thoughts, nausea, irrational fear and mood swings.

When To Visit The ER And When To Visit Urgent Care

Spending too much money on a minor health problem will only cause you more stress. That, in turn, will cause you even more health issues down the road. Save yourself the trouble and parse out the difference now. An emergency walk in clinic will treat symptoms that can’t wait for your regular doctor, such as an allergic reaction, head trauma or a deep wound. An urgent care clinic is often used for cuts, burns, sprains, moderate abdominal pain, flu shots, UTI treatment and STD testing.

Personal health is at its best when you remember conventional wisdom. Rather than completing your journey in a day, start with small steps at a low cost health clinic.

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Three Reasons to Find a Primary Care Provider

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Most of us have a paradoxical relationship with our health. On the one hand, we want to be healthy and do all that we can to ensure a life without illness or injury. But on the other hand, we often avoid things like routine check-ups, even if they’re relatively quick and painless. There are a few possible reasons for this. Some people are so self-conscious they don’t even like when a doctor fully examines them. Others, especially those who have reached a certain age, don’t like going through the tests physical examinations demand, such as mammograms and prostate exams. These exams aren’t necessarily harmful, but they’re not always pleasant either. Others still might simply be afraid of what their doctor will tell them. No one wants to hear they have high blood pressure, need to change their diet, exercise more, and change their lifestyle, even if knowing these things is to their benefit.

Regardless of all these excuses to not regularly visit a primary care physician, it’s extremely important to do so. The costs of neglecting one’s health long enough can be severe and sometimes fatal. Additionally, it can mean taking trips to emergency walk in clinics every time something goes wrong. While urgent care facilities and walk in health clinics are convenient and a crucial part of the American health care system, they can also be less inviting than primary care facilities and require longer wait times due to high traffic. If this isn’t enough to convince you to do a primary care physician search, here are three major reasons to visit your own doctor as opposed to ending up in emergency walk in clinics or the ER.

1) Building Trust and Knowledge

Perhaps the most beneficial aspect of having your own doctor is that you can form a relationship with them that is built on trust. Most emergency walk in clinics will have different doctors in rotation, so that even f you visit the same clinic you might not encounter the same doctor. Having a primary care physician, however, ensures that you’ll be in contact with the same person for a very long time. This doctor will begin to know you physically and emotionally, making it easier to examine you and diagnose any problems you might have. Additionally, the more you know and trust your doctor, the more transparent you will be about your habits, concerns, and needs. This reciprocal trust will make your doctor’s job easier and keep you healthier and more aware of your own body.

2) Referring to Family and Friends

The only thing you probably care more about than your own health and well-being is that of your loved ones. By having a primary care provider you trust, you can easily recommend this doctor to a friend or family member in need of a doctor. You’ll feel a lot better knowing that the people you care about can reach out to a trusted professional for their medical needs, and not merely have to rely on medical walk in clinics for their health care.

3) Lower Costs in the Long Run

We all know that health care isn’t cheap. Unfortunately, there’s no real way around this fact right now. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t cut costs here and there when it comes to our health. In fact, having a primary care provider is a great way to reduce your medical costs throughout your life. Getting annual or bi-annual checkups might seem like a drag and even a waste of money, but on the contrary these screenings often prevent you from becoming sick in the future. For issues like high blood pressure, catching them early on can mean saving you a trip to the ER down the road, and even saving your life. Needless to say, ER visits are anything but cheap. Getting a prescription for high blood pressure, however, is far less costly and a great way to avoid something severe like heart failure or stroke.

Thinking about our health can be scary. We want to stay healthy, but don’t always want to know that we’re at risk for a terrible illness. Emergency walk in clinics and ERs are there for us in times of need, but it’s always better to prevent the need for these visits in the first place.