The new school year is approaching fast! With this comes shopping, meeting teachers, changing home and sleep schedules, and so much more! It also means preparing for the unexpected. As a ER nurse, I want to urge you to be Urgent Care Prepared.
Urgent Care Prepared
Being urgent care prepared means being ready for the injuries, illnesses, and other medical needs that come along with school and life. Strep throat, twisted ankles, and weird rashes tend to show up without warning! The emergency room is for emergencies, and could take you all night, while urgent care is designed for faster, simpler medical needs. Urgent Care centers are great resources for unexpected, time-limited medical needs.
How to Be Urgent Care Prepared:
Find your local urgent care locations. The Urgent Care Association of America has a great search function to check out!
Then pick which ones have the right hours and insurance coverage for you. Also note that different centers have different abilities (xrays, urine testing, etc). When your child comes home sick or injured enough to need a doctor, the last thing you want to do is spend time staring at your smartphone figuring out where to go.
Post the list of urgent care centers and their capabilities in an easy place, like your fridge.
Create a List for Each Family Member
Write down: Full name and medical number. Insurance numbers. Medical history. Current medications. Allergies. These are all things that will disappear from your brain in the stress of the moment, so know where these papers are so you can bring them with to any doctor visit.
Take a Picture! Use your phone to store pictures of medical documents and insurance cards. Or email documents to yourself to easily bring them up on a smartphone at doctor visits.
Urgent Care isn’t just for kids. Adults can be seen too!
Other Tips for a Smooth Start
Get vaccinations and sports physicals scheduled and done as early as possible.
Have copies of immunization records and other medical information at home. It’s easy to copy and provide to schools without having to call the doctor for a printout.
Keep medications like Tylenol and Ibuprofen handy to help with pain and fevers while waiting to visit a doctor.
If the problem is life-threatening or complicated, go to the ER. If not, urgent care is a much cheaper option.
If you can wait to visit your primary doctor, they’ll know you better. If it can’t wait, urgent care is a great option to be seen within hours.
Set aside money in savings for unexpected medical needs. Urgent care often has cheaper co-pays than the ER, but anything medical is expensive.
Thanks for this great information. Being prepared is important. Knowing which urgent care to go to ahead of time is a good one.
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