Urgent Care - The Medical Middle Man

Emergencies that are not grave are common place in many homes that have young children or teenagers. Whether they pick-up strep throat at school, sprain an ankle in ball practice or they slice their finger after they drop a dish in the kitchen. They are those things that should not wait until morning, but they are not all emergency room worthy. 

Most people probably do not think of choosing an urgent care location unless they have an emergency. When something actually happens that is when you start looking for one, or you remember the one on such and such a corner. You do not know anything about the doctors or their experience. You do not know if the facility is clean. You just know that you want to get to the center quickly.

If you have young children, you are almost guaranteed to need to go at some point during off hours to have one of them checked out. For this reason, it is important that you know what places are good and which ones are not. When you begin your search, you could start on the internet with a search of urgent care locations in your area. There may be many or few, but once you have a few to choose from, you could start making visits to them to check out the cleanliness and professionalism. The website may talk about the doctors, but if they do not, take the time to ask about them when you make your visit.

Other things to consider as you look into specific locations are the hours they are open, the cost to be treated, and the insurance coverage they accept. Open hours is a big deal because in an emergency you do not want to go there and have them be closed. Finances may not be first in your mind in an emergency, but it will come to mind when a large bill arrives. Look for a location that charges less than what an ER would charge, or look for a location that will accept your insurance.

When you find an urgent care location that seems to have all the attributes that you are looking for, you will be glad that you did the research. Now, you will have some direction in an emergency, and you will know where to go and what to expect. You should even put the name, number, and location of the urgent care on the refrigerator so that baby sitters and other family members will know where to take a child in an emergency if they do not need the ER. 

In your next family emergency, you will be so thankful that you have done the research in advance for an urgent care facility in your area. You will feel confident having the doctors treat your family without questioning whether they are qualified. You will not have to worry that the cleanliness will be an issue because you will have made a visit to see the location for yourself.