Iowa Clinic Urgent Care: How To Help Your Care Recipient
Urgent care at an Iowa clinic is a great resource for care providers and their care recipients. They serve an important role between regular primary care and emergency care.
Older adults can especially benefit. According to a recent survey, more than half of all people between 50 and 80 utilize urgent care. Most use it to avoid the emergency room, which can be stressful and time-consuming.
| Did You Know? If you reside in Iowa, you have free access to Trualta for even more caregiving resources. If you live in another state, you can check if you also have free access to Trualta. |
What Is Urgent Care?
Urgent care is a type of medical care. It is outpatient treatment for a wide range of chronic and acute illnesses and injuries. Urgent care is for conditions and injuries that require care but that will not cause more disability or death if not treated immediately.
Some examples of conditions, symptoms, and injuries treated at urgent care include:
- Back pain
- Rashes
- Diarrhea
- Ear infections
- Sinusitis
- Vomiting
- Upper respiratory infections
- Wounds
- Fever
Tips For Going To Urgent Care With Your Care Recipient
Going to an urgent care clinic, even for a minor illness, can be challenging for your care recipient. Use these tips to make it a little easier.
Know Where To Go
Many primary care physicians and internal medicine practitioners partner with specific urgent care facilities. They communicate regularly and share patient records.
Find out if your care recipient’s physician has a partner. If possible, go to their recommended urgent care. This will streamline medical care for your care recipient.
If there is no partnership, ask the clinic to send information to the office of your primary care provider.
Make An Appointment
Walk-ins are always acceptable in an Iowa clinic for urgent care. Many clinics also take same-day appointments. You can call or go online to make an appointment for later in the day. This reduces your wait time and stress on your care recipient.
Bring Medical Information
This is especially important if the urgent care clinic is not associated with your care recipient’s doctor. Bring a list of all their medical conditions and medications. Don’t rely on your own memory to list them. A printed list is more useful.
Stay With Your Care Recipient
Request to stay with your care recipient throughout the visit. They may be nervous about the visit. Your presence will bring comfort. You can also be useful for answering questions and remembering important information.
Urgent Care Or Emergency Room?
Taking your care recipient to the emergency room is much more involved. It can be more difficult, time-consuming, and stressful than urgent care. But, if your care recipient has a medical emergency, they should go to an emergency department.
The difference between using urgent care and emergency care is the immediate need for care. Is your care recipient at risk of becoming much worse or even dying if they don’t get treatment right away? If so, they need the emergency department for these more serious illnesses or injuries.
Urgent care is for more minor medical problems that still need quick attention. People often use urgent care if they cannot access their primary doctor, but the need is not an emergency.
Your care recipient’s primary care physician likely has a 24-hour phone staffed by nurses or on-call doctors. You can call for guidance on which type of care is best.
Iowa Urgent Care Clinics
Be prepared before your care recipient has a need for an urgent care center. Make a list of local urgent care clinics. Here are some examples of high quality patient care in Iowa in various locations:
The Trualta library has many articles with more information on caregiving and care recipients. If you reside in Iowa, you have free access to Trualta for even more caregiving resources. If you live in another state, you can check if you also have free access to Trualta.
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