Americans should always take their health seriously, whether young or elderly, and it is always important to have a family doctor or a nearby urgent care clinics to visit. An urgent care center is a fine place to visit if someone suffers an everyday wound or illness, and the trained nurses and physicians there can take care of them after a short wait time. The medical professionals at a clinic are effective generalists for everyday needs, but other medical professionals can specialize in other areas such as pediatrics, the eyes, ears, the throat, or even fertility and reproductive health for men and women. A family doctor is a particular type of medical professionals who can be very flexible and have many patients at once. What should a modern American adult from all these medical professionals and their clinics?
Urgent Care
Urgent care describes when a patient is brought into a walk in clinic for a non life-threatening wound or illness. These health care clinics are common in the United States; many thousands can be found across the nation, with most communities having at least a few of them. These facilities are typically independent or part of a small local network, and they may have broad hours of operation. A patient can find them with an online search such as “urgent care near me”, and find a list of local clinics. The names, addresses, phone numbers, and hours of operation may be listed for each one.
These clinics are staffed with nurse practitioners and physicians who can take care of a wide variety of ailments, and they can see many patients per day. If a clinic is running smoothly, the staff there may see about three patients per hour, and a patient may expect a wait time close to 15 minutes or so. There may also be pharmacists on hand, running the pharmacy for prescription drug refills.
A person may visit these clinics, for example, to get stitches and bandages for a shallow cut (such as if they stepped on glass or mishandled a knife). Bone fractures can be taken care of in about 80% of these clinics, and many of them can also treat ankle sprains (another common issue, such as among athletes). Broken fingers or toes may be taken care of, as can rashes. A patient may visit these clinics to get relief from the common cold or flu, and upper respiratory problems are another common reason to visit these local clinics. Some such clinics may also be found in retailers like Target or Walgreens, which typically have pharmacies in them.
A Family Doctor
A person may need other medical professionals in some cases, and having a private doctor to visit is always a safe option. What makes a family doctor unique among medical professionals today? They, as the name suggests, typically have entire families on their lists of clients, and they are flexible generalists. These doctors can treat or diagnose problems among children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly alike. Often, these family doctors may refer a patient to a more specialized doctor, such as for cancer, throat issues, hearing problems, and more.
A person may choose to find a doctor for their family, and start this search with the Internet if they don’t have references from their current healthcare provider. One may search something to the effect of “family doctors Boston MA” or “available family doctors San Diego CA” and find a list of local doctors and their offices. The interested client may cross off offices that are too far to visit regularly, then visit the rest to check them out. Multiple family members may check out the doctor’s office to ensure that they like it there, especially younger children. A young child may be distressed or frightened by some doctors or offices, so this can remove a certain office from the list. A child should be at ease and trust a doctor, so this factor must be checked when looking for a family doctor. The adults can consult the doctors there to find out their educational background, certifications and awards, recent patient reviews, and more. If a given to doctor is to their liking, the family can sign up and start seeing them regularly.