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Urgent care facilities may be the better option for some patients

07.12.2011

Urgent care facilities offer individuals treatment for a wide range of serious but non-life-threatening injuries or illness, yet relatively few people are aware of their benefits. For this reason, some healthcare experts are working to educate the public on when to go to the hospital and when to see immediate care elsewhere.

Dr. Carmen Burrell, a physician at an urgent care facility in West Virginia, told the Associated Press that deciding whether or not to visit a hospital or another immediate care provider can actually be made pretty simply.

"If you stop to think about if you should go to the ED or urgent care, you can probably be treated by urgent care," she told the news source.

She said that hospital emergency rooms are more for chest pain that could be a heart attack or when a person suspects they have had a stroke. However, most other things that people go to the hospital for like sprained ankles or cut fingers can be treated more efficiently at an urgent care facility.

The National Quality Forum estimates that $38 billion is wasted each year in the U.S. due to hospital emergency room overuse.
 

Categories: Injury & Illness 

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