Here is How to Have a Positive Urgent Care Experience

When you’re sick or injured, seeking help from urgent care services can feel stressful and inconvenient to your life. But get this — workers in urgent cares absolutely understand that you don’t want to be there. They’re simply there to help fix you up and avoid a second trip to emergency care. When you’re stressed, the obvious doesn’t seem so obvious, so here are some things to keep in mind for you to have the best relationship with your walk in clinic.

• Be honest about symptoms.

  Going to a walk in clinic or urgent care clinic, some people have the impression that they need to exaggerate their symptoms to get the care they need, while others naturally downplay how sick they are. Remember that these doctors likely do not have your full medical or personal history. Be as honest as possible about your symptoms so you can get the best care available. Similarly, be honest about your history when getting, say, an STD test or a TB test. They ask you those questions abotu sexual history or travelling for professional reasons — not to judge you.

• Go to the emergency room for an obviously big emergency.

  If something is obviously life-threatening or putting someone in immediate danger, go to the emergency room. It helps to know beforehand what services your nearest urgent care clinic is equipped to provide. Around 80% of urgent care services can deal with broken bones, but if yours is not one of them, you should probably know that before you drag your brother there with his broken arm.

• Respect the professionals and follow instructions.

  Probably one of the biggest pet peeves of medical professionals working in urgent care is not being taken seriously as medical professionals. Urgent care services are still legitimate medical clinics, sometimes even staffed by volunteers who have retired from hospital positions or enjoy community service. Simply treat them with respect and take their suggestions seriously they’ll appreciate it. Also — if you are prescribed antibiotics, be sure that you finish the whole set of antibiotics. Many people disregard this advice thinking that the rest of the drugs are unnecessary once they quickly feel better. This can cause whatever bacteria the antibiotic was fighting to recover and become resistant to treatment. This is one instance of danger resulting from ignoring an urgent care professional. Second opinions and caution are reasonable, but respecting specific instructions is so important.