Urgent care Upper East Side NY facilities exist to help people with urgent, non-life threatening injuries and illnesses, when they cannot visit their primary physician. These facilities are changing the face of healthcare, enabling people to get the help they need when their physicians are closed, while at the same time reducing the strain on emergency rooms.

Urgent care is not a substitute for emergency care, however. In some cases, you will need to attend the emergency room because you may have a life threatening injury or illness. For instance, if you experience a seizure, a deep knife wound, pregnancy related problems, or severe chest pains, you should go straight to the emergency room, or phone 911. However, if you experience things such as flu, fever, vomiting, diarrhea, falls, sprains and strains, eye irritation, back pain, and other such irritation, but not threatening, conditions, then are better off going to an urgent care clinic.

The Benefits of Urgent Care Clinics

Urgent care clinics offer a number of clear benefits, including:

1. You can go without an appointment, which means you will be able to get the necessary treatment when you need it.
2. They are open during very flexible hours, including weekends and evenings. Some facilities are open 24/7, in fact. This flexibility is highly convenient, as you can fit your visit in around your own schedule, rather than that of your physician.
3. They give you with the peace of mind you need should you be facing an injury or illness. You don’t have to wait for hours to get this peace of mind either. You will usually be seen pretty much straight away, you won’t have to queue in long lines, and you will be able to go home the same day. Plus, if you do find yourself in a situation where you actually need urgent care, you will be referred straight away.
4. Most urgent care facilities have all the modern medical technology you require, including x-ray machines and lab tests, so that you can be diagnosed during your visit. Many facilities also have a pharmacy on their premises, which means that you can have all the tests you need as well.
5. The cost of urgent care facilities is much lower than that of going to hospital. This is because there are far fewer specialist doctors present in an urgent care facility, and they will only run the tests necessary to demonstrate that you are not in immediate danger.

In very simple terms, you can compare an urgent care facility with a more advanced general physician, who are open when other physicians are not. They have extensive tools and techniques available, such as heart monitors and x-ray machines, but not as many as a hospital would have. This is because they do not deal with the life threatening issues that a hospital should deal with. My making and understanding that difference, you will be able to make sure that you keep your own costs down, but also that you don’t take invaluable treatment time away from those who really need it.