By Mitch Billimack, Advocate BroMenn Medical Center
In an emergency medical situation, most everyone knows to call 9-1-1 for an ambulance. But what about those injuries or illnesses you aren’t quite sure about?
Immediate care centers (also known as urgent care centers) are designed to handle situations where a patient needs to see a doctor right away but doesn’t necessarily need emergency treatment. “Immediate care centers provide patients with the option to see a doctor for same day treatment without having to go to the emergency room,” says Dr. Allan Griffith, an emergency medicine physician who treats patients at the Immediate Care office on the campus of Advocate BroMenn Medical Center in Normal, IL.
Immediate care centers are not designed to take the place of a patient’s regular doctor. They are meant to fill the gap between a patient’s regular doctor and the emergency room. Most immediate care centers are open during evenings and weekends and are well equipped to handle most minor illnesses and minor injuries, including stitches and even broken bones.
This is great news for patients because immediate care centers can offer quality care in a much timelier fashion than hospitals. In an emergency room, severe injuries and illnesses take priority over minor ones, leaving patients with non-life-threatening concerns waiting for long periods of time.
Immediate care centers offer a more convenient option because they only treat minor injuries — there are no life-threatening situations that require the doctors’ priority. This allows patients to be in and out much faster than the emergency room.
Additionally, visiting an immediate care center is less expensive than going to an emergency room. Because emergency rooms need to be able to handle the most severe injuries, they require considerably more equipment, staff, and resources, the cost of which adds up quickly. As a result, hospitals are forced to charge higher rates for their services than urgent care centers, even for the same procedures.
So, how do you know if you need to go to an emergency room or an immediate care center? “Some telltale signs a patient needs to go to the emergency room are chest pain, stroke symptoms, trouble breathing, being dizzy or unconscious, and major bleeding or trauma,” says Dr. Griffith. “Most immediate care centers can treat patients for wounds that don’t require anesthesia. That includes small cuts requiring stitches, most broken bones, minor eye injuries, most minor car accidents, serious infections, high fevers, most asthma problems, and most nose bleeds.”
Be sure to locate both your nearest hospital and immediate care center of choice ahead of time and don’t hesitate to call 9-1-1 when an emergency arises. If injury arises ask yourself, how severe is the injury? Is it serious enough to warrant going to the emergency room? If not, an immediate care clinic may be your best option when your doctor is unavailable.
Dr. Griffith’s rule of thumb depends on whether you need an ambulance. “If the patient is alert and functioning without a life-threatening condition, we can usually take care of them in an immediate care setting. If the patient has a life-threatening condition that requires immediate medical attention, they need to go to the emergency room by ambulance.”
If you are unsure, don’t be afraid to call an immediate care center. These medical professionals are more than happy to direct you to which service you need to go to over the phone. They can help you determine the severity of your illness or injury. However, if at all in doubt, experts say always go to the emergency room.
Be prepared. Be in the know. Go to the right health care facility for your illness or injury!
Advocate Medical Group has immediate care clinics on the Advocate BroMenn Medical Center campus at 1302 Franklin Ave., Suite 1100, Normal, and at the Advocate BroMenn Outpatient Center, 3024 E. Empire St., Bloomington. For information about hours and services, please call 800-3-ADVOCATE (800-323-8622) or visit www.advocatehealth.com/bromenn/immediate-care. Watch for the introduction of their new online tool that will let you select a convenient appointment time so you’ll spend less time in the waiting room.