When to Go to a Walk in Clinic
The main thing behind the principle of immediate medical attention is that you want to go to a place where you will get attended to immediately, without having to wait too much. You can’t therefore afford to go to an urgent care clinic or walk in clinic with a life or limb-threatening condition as you will only be referred to go to an emergency room, wasting precious time. Given that emergency rooms attend to patients on the basis of the most serious conditions first, if you go to an emergency room for a condition that isn’t a medical emergency and as such one that could have been handled at an urgent care or walk in clinic, you may end up having to wait for a very long time before you are finally attended to. This is without mentioning the fact that there is a difference between urgent care clinics and walk in clinics, despite the fact that these two are terms that are usually, and mistakenly, used interchangeably nowadays. The subject matter experts over at frontlineer.com are therefore adamant that we should know the instances when a visit to each of these facilities is required to ensure that we get timely and effective medical attention and don’t end up suffering unwanted consequences for making the wrong choice. This article is therefore just what the doctor ordered, pardon the pun, as far as getting to know when to go to a walk in clinic is concerned as it will look to highlight some of the instances that should prompt us to do so.
Walk in clinics are designed to deal with minor conditions that require to be looked at immediately but are not medical emergencies. These conditions should also not require diagnosis through imaging since walk in clinics don’t have facilities to take X-rays and MRIs, something that is revealed in discussions over at frontlineer.com. This means if you are having experiencing pain when urinating and maybe think you may have a urinary tract infection, UTI, then a visit to a walk in clinic may suffice as far as getting yourself treatment is concerned. If you also develop rashes or hives on your body, and they are not accompanied by a fever, then you can also head over to a walk in clinic to be assessed and treated. You should however keep in mind that if the rashes and hives are severe, that is they cover a large part of your skin or even the whole body or if they are accompanied by a fever, you should head over to an emergency room as soon as possible.
Another scenario when you can go to a walk in clinic is in cases where one is experiencing mild flu-like symptoms. such symptoms, as is revealed in discussions over at frontlineer.com, include a fever, runny or stuffy nose, body or muscle aches, headaches, a feeling of tiredness or fatigue as well as instances of vomiting and diarrhea, although this last symptom is mostly seen in children as far as flu is concerned and not in adults. If these symptoms persist, it could indicate a more serious condition such as pneumonia and as such it is important to head over to a walk in clinic to be evaluated rather than persist with home remedy treatments and over-the-counter medication. It is usually recommended by health professionals that if you have been experiencing flu-like symptoms for more than two days and the situation is not improving, you should head over to a walk in clinic and be evaluated as soon as you can. Another instance when you should go to a walk in clinic is if you are experiencing a persistent cough or a sore throat that is severe and is not easing with home remedies.
Pain in the ear is also yet another instance when you should go to a walk in clinic. This is common in children due to ear infections and, as is covered in detail over at frontlineer.com, for those children that can’t talk, they can be seen tugging on the affected ear to go with other signs of an ear infections. Ear infections can be comfortably evaluated and treated at walk in clinics with the same applying to cases of redness in the eye. Walk in clinics can comfortably also handle cases of pink eye with the same applying for instances where one is experiencing itchiness in the eye as well as discharge coming from the affected eye. If you are suffering from an upset stomach, or generally referred to as abdominal pain, you can also go to a walk in clinic and be evaluated and treated there, with the same applying for case of sinus infections. Other services that you can find being offered in a walk in clinic include instances where you need to get a vaccination, have routine physicals carried out or if you want to have a pregnancy test administered.
You should keep in mind that walk in clinics are for those instances where you may not be feeling well, need medical attention, but the condition is not serious enough to warrant a visit to an emergency room or even an urgent care clinic. As usual, if you require to get more information on this and other related topic, make sure you check out the ever reliable frontlineer.com.
