Five Things to Expect When You Go to Urgent Care

The baby has woken up in the middle of the night with a high fever and you are frantically searching online for “urgent care nearby.” You know you need medical care right away, but you have no reason to suspect the situation is life-threatening so there’s no need to go to the emergency room. Yet in those moments when you are hunting through your phone or map application for an urgent care nearby, it’s important to know in advance what you can expect and what you should bring along.

A Welcoming and Professional Demeanor

Have you ever been to a doctor’s office where you felt as if you are arrival or even your needs or something of an imposition when you checked in? Have you ever been to a frantic emergency room bustling with people, screaming children and sick people; possibly with no place for you to even sit down? At urgent care centers you can typically expect a far less stressful situation. While these centers are ready to deal with urgent medical needs, since they don’t treat life-threatening emergencies they typically do not have the same RI of panic you’ve come to expect emergency rooms. You can expect an atmosphere that is both calm and professional.

A Short Check-in Experience

The last thing you want to do when your child is seriously sick is to fill in reams of paperwork. If it’s your first time visiting and urgent care nearby, you may find yourself needing to fill out a short form. If you’ve been there before, even this probably won’t be necessary. Some family urgent care facilities can even let you download and print the forms before you go. However you do it, it’s important to note down as accurately as possible a few important bits of information such as how long your child has been sick, whether or not they are allergic to any medications or foods, and basic information about age and general health condition. This will help the medical professionals do their job as quickly and accurately as possible.

A Preliminary Exam

Before being seen by the doctor, you can expect a registered nurse or other highly-trained medical professional to do a basic exam. This exam allows the nurse to communicate to the doctor the essential nature of the medical issue and helps the doctor get a frame of reference for the problem and begin problem-solving solutions before he or she even enters the room.

Seeing a Doctor

The next step will be seeing the doctor or similar medical professional who can do a complete diagnosis and offer treatment. If for some reason it’s necessary, the doctor can certainly send you on to the hospital, but in most cases you can get the treatment and medication that your child needs right there at the urgent care nearby.

Help and Explanation

Once you received a diagnosis and medications, you can expect the healthcare professionals at the urgent care center to thoroughly explain to you what the medications are doing, how to take them or administer them properly, and any side effects to watch out for. They will also let you know if there any red flags in your child’s condition that you should keep an eye on as they recover, and they can also answer any questions that you have at this time. In most cases, the facility will write down aftercare instructions and send them home with you.

Every week, approximately 3 million people will enter an urgent care center for help. More than half of these urgent care centers have wait times less than 15 minutes, making the urgent care facility a great choice when you need urgent medical care for your children right away. Before a medical need arises, check out urgent care nearby you and make sure you’re prepared.