When you’re in a health emergency, learning about what conditions can receive prompt care can save you from danger. No matter your age, if you have a non-life threatening illness, urgent care can be your most convenient option to regain your wellbeing and keep up with your daily routine, with zero health-related interruptions.
If you’re an adult in search of treatment for yourself or your child, receiving urgent care services in Brentwood, TN can be what you need. Learn about what conditions don’t need an appointment to receive prompt medical attention.
Urgent Care: When Should You Go?
Urgent care is a branch of medicine that brings immediate outpatient care to treat acute diseases, symptoms of chronic illnesses and injuries, regardless of the age of the patient. Although UC physicians can’t perform surgeries or care for inpatients, they can repair wounds and address your present symptoms.These professionals require knowledge in a wide range of conditions, in order to provide the best medical attention for those with an unusual disease and to become the “bridge” between emergency care and primary care, while also collaborating with other specialists if needed.
For most patients that go into an ambulatory medicine setting, an urgent care practitioner becomes the first point of contact to treat any symptoms. They can either take full care of the presenting problem, or become the connection to get a referral with other specialists, to transfer to the emergency department, or be sent to direct hospitalization.
Urgent Care vs. Emergency Care: Key Differences
When typical medical practices are closed and you’re in need of a doctor to treat your symptoms, you may be doubting about going into urgent care or the emergency room. In case you didn’t know, these two areas of medicine are different and treat different illnesses and injuries. What sets them apart are the following characteristics:
- Conditions treated: In the E.R, life threatening conditions are a priority, in these rooms the doctors treat situations where there is a risk of death or disability. On the other hand, urgent care physicians treat injuries or illnesses that need immediate attention but are not as severe.
- Equipment & Staff: urgent care is also known as a walk-in clinic, designed for outpatient care. Normally, it’s packed with an exam room, a lab for basic tests and X-ray machines and a team of primary physicians, their assistants and nurse practitioners. Meanwhile, the emergency room is a fully equipped hospital department with operating rooms, in-house laboratories, and a staff with specialized doctors, surgeons and critical care nurses.
- Wait times: In the emergency room, the waiting time is unpredictable, as they operate on a triage system that prioritizes the most severe cases. In urgent care, the wait times are often short and operate on a first-come system.
4 Common Conditions Treated By Urgent Care
Before you go to a walk-in clinic to treat your symptoms, it’s important to learn what conditions and injuries can receive medical attention from the urgent care doctors. Some of the health concerns approached by UC physicians are:
1. Acute Aches & Injuries
Muscle strains, neck, back and joint pain are common reasons why patients go to urgent care. These aches can be caused by performing physical activity like heavy lifting or sports like football. Your UC doctor can approach these concerns with targeted evaluation, pain management treatment and a custom recovery guide. Going to your walk-in clinic can avoid these minor injuries from becoming chronic health issues.
2. Skin Concerns
Urgent care can also attend you in case of having lacerations, abrasions, rashes and other allergic skin reactions. The physician can clean your wounds and provide sutures if needed, and also provide you a guide to take care of your skin at home to avoid infections. If you have sudden allergic responses, you can also receive immediate treatment and evaluation
3. Respiratory Issues
One of the reasons that constantly drives patients to urgent care is having a cold, or respiratory issues overall. Your healthcare provider can assess symptoms like congestion, fever or respiratory discomfort, and provide you with a treatment plan of medications to have rapid relief.
4. Fever, Flu, and Infections
With UC, you can assess symptoms of fever, influenza and other viral infections with efficiency. Getting early testing ensures that you can get the right diagnosis and treatment, which can be either medication, hydration or a care guide, and you can also avoid spreading your allergy.
Receive Urgent Care in Brentwood, TN With Cool Springs
You can avoid your symptoms and injuries from becoming a lifetime health concern with an urgent care visit. If you’re in Brentwood, TN, you can visit our walk-in clinic to treat your acute conditions and go back to your normal routine as soon as possible. At Cool Springs Internal Medicine & Pediatrics you can find a team of UC doctors that can assist you in case of having an unexpected health problem. Contact us or find us to receive prompt acute care.
