Urgent Care Clinics are medical facilities that can fill the gap between a visit to your primary physician, and a visit to the emergency room. While not generally open 24 hours a day, most Clinics do have extended hours and are likely to be open at times that your doctor’s office is not. Unlike your doctor’s office, you do not need to make an appointment to be seen in an Urgent Care Clinic. You can walk right in and be seen in a generally short time by a physician or other licensed health professional such as a nurse or a physician’s assistant.
Urgent Care in Marlboro NJ is not equipped to deal with serious medical emergencies. For health conditions that are very severe or life-threatening, you should choose to go to a hospital emergency room instead of a clinic. Examples of serious or life-threatening conditions include chest pains or signs of heart attack, severe injuries such as broken bones or wounds with heavy or uncontrollable bleeding, poisoning, stroke, difficulty breathing, or severe burns.
Urgent Care facilities are able to treat health conditions that are not life-threatening, but should be evaluated and treated without unnecessary delay. Conditions of this type include fevers and flu-like illnesses, sprains and strains, back injuries, cuts that may require stitches, skin irritations or rashes, or eye or ear infections.
When making the decision to seek health care, take a few minutes to try to assess the situation. Is this problem potentially life-threatening? If the answer is yes, do not hesitate to call for an ambulance or head directly to the nearest emergency room. Is the problem somewhat serious, but not life-threatening? Then you have the option of either calling your regular physician, or going to the Urgent Care Center. If your doctor’s office is open at the time, you should call My Instadoc of Marlboro there first, and he or she can give you a professional opinion about whether you can wait for a regular appointment, or seek help from an Urgent Care Center. If you do decide to go to an Urgent Care Center, check first with your insurance provider to see if there are any nearby centers that are in your network, as this could potentially save you from having to pay a high deductible or co-payment.