Urgent Care or Primary Care?

April 14th, 2016

In recent years, there have been a multitude of urgent care centers and “minute” clinics often found in areas with retail shopping or attached to pharmacies.  These healthcare offices are usually open much later than most medical offices with some open 24/7 and usually offer both adult and pediatric care.  They provide convenient access to medical providers especially for minor injuries and medical issues occurring after normal business hours when most primary care offices are closed.  A trip to an urgent care center generally costs less than the emergency room, and the time saved not having to wait in a hospital ER can be even more valuable.  However, a New York Times article titled “The Hidden Cost of Retail Health Clinics” says these retail medical practices can actually increase the cost of care.  A main factor is that when accessing healthcare becomes “too easy”, people have a tendency to seek help for issues that would have gotten better on their own or with simple over the counter treatment.  The common cold is a good example.  Colds account for the top diagnosis in most healthcare office/primary care settings.  However, almost all of those are caused by viruses for which we do not have a cure or treatment.  Does seeing a healthcare provider for a common cold lasting 3-4 days improve the symptoms?  Generally, no but if given the choice people may not want to wait the few days to see their primary care provider and instead opt for going to see the urgent care down the street.

How can we change these habits?  I think there needs to be more education provided to people on when to use urgent care properly and when it is safe to wait to see a medical provider.  I have noticed a trend that people go straight to the doctor’s office (often demanding an antibiotic) when they don’t feel well with a cold, rather than giving simple remedies available from their drugstore and allowing time and rest to feel better.  Something I’ve always told colleagues is that I wish more emphasis was placed on health education in school.  Isn’t knowing how to deal with a cold just as important (or more important) as learning about the order of American Presidents?  The typical American gets 2-3 colds each year, when was the last time you needed to know that Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th President of the United States (unless you were on Jeopardy recently)?  I also think primary care providers have the responsibility to teach their patients about steps they can take to improve their own health and “red flag symptoms” that should prompt them to seek medical care.