If you aren’t feeling well, do you seek clinic care or emergency room care? Or, do you just hope you’ll feel better without seeing a doctor or other medical health professional?
There are quite a few issues for which it is a good idea to seek the care of a doctor. This is because they may be the signs of more serious illness or, if left untreated, could cause additional health issues.
In many cases, the immediate need for clinic care, urgent care, or emergency room care may be obvious. If you’re not sure whether you should visit a doctor, it makes sense to do so. In this way, a doctor can examine you, provide a diagnosis, and then prescribe treatment when and where needed.
Consider these conditions that would warrant a doctor’s diagnosis and various forms of intervention:
- Abdominal pain
- Abscesses
- Back pain
- Bladder infections
- Bronchitis
- Ear infections
- Fevers
- Flu
- Lacerations
- Migraines
- Pneumonia
- Rashes
- Sports injuries
- Urinary tract infections
On a regular basis, urgent care doctors diagnose and provide treatment for a variety of illnesses and injuries. In 2012, for example, the most common diagnosis was upper respiratory conditions. Wound repair was the most common procedure performed by urgent care doctors.
The second most common issue, which occurs with 70% of people in the United States, is dizziness. For people 60 and older, dizziness and balance issues are a common complaint. Approximately 65% of these individuals 60 and older will experience these issues daily.
Long-term low-back pain is another issue. On a daily basis, approximately 69% of the people living in the United States claim to suffer from low-back pain. Furthermore, it this pain has an impact on the quality of their daily lives.
It has been estimated that a minimum of 40% of people that suffer from back pain do not seek the assistance of a doctor or physical therapist for this situation. Some people, however, approximately four-out-of-ten, attempt to alleviate this pain through exercise.
World Neurology published a study on Degenerative Disc Disease (DDD). This study showed that of the 96 patients treated for DDD, 53 were treated with lumbar fusion and 43 sought physical therapy instead. It was shows that there wasn’t a significant difference in outcomes for these two treatment protocols.
Seeking clinic care on a regular basis is also important for preventive reasons, such as screening for STDs and TB. Another preventive type of medical intervention is to receive vaccinations during flu season as well as other recommended vaccinations for traveling abroad.
The Urgent Care Association of America reports that there are approximately three million individuals that use urgent care on a weekly basis. Most of these urgent care centers, approximately 85%, are open Monday through Sunday. Currently, there are 20,000 urgent care medicine physicians that are available to see patients at these facilities.
If it’s been a while since you had a check-up, doesn’t it make sense to schedule one soon? In addition to being an important preventative measure, it would be the perfect time to discuss any other medical issues that may be bothering or troubling you.