The first thing to understand is whether the facility you are planning to go to is really urgent care. Unfortunately, there are medical offices that call themselves urgent care when they are not. In reality, some regular medical offices misrepresent themselves as urgent care. Because of these offices, many patients now believe that all urgent care centers are inefficient. As a consumer, it is important to visit Urgent Care Association (UCA) Accredited Urgent Care Centers. The important word here is ‘Accredited’. UCA Certified Urgent Care is merely a certification obtained by mail based on membership and a paper application. On the other hand, the Accreditation process involves maintaining suitable standards. This is verified through site visits by UCA Examiners. All Statcare Urgent Care locations are fully Accredited by the UCA.
As with many other medical offices, patients sometimes notice that they spend more time in the waiting room than with a doctor. Studies show, that across the U.S., most patients meet with their doctor for only 17 minutes despite having an hour-long appointment.
At Statcare Urgent Care, we strive to make your visit as efficient as possible. We know that your time is precious. We know that the last thing you want to do when you’re feeling sick is to wait around at the doctor’s office. Find out more information about our average appointment lengths as well as how to cut down on your wait time, below.
Average Length of an Urgent Care Visit
There are many factors that affect how long you’ll stay at an urgent care during an appointment. At Statcare, you can check-in online with a few clicks by putting in your name and phone number and email ID. Log into Statcare Urgent Care patient portal and request an appointment via email. Or, you can call one of our dedicated patient care coordinators to make an appointment for you on the phone. So, there is more than one way you can make your appointment ahead of time. This will definitely save you time when you come to the office. When you arrive, simply go to one of the kiosks and check-in. Our staff then knows about your arrival and you will have maintained your position in the line.
At Statcare, sometimes a patient may need immediate attention; such as in the case of chest pain. Our staff will attend to them on a priority basis. There are times when our provider will go into a room and realize the patient needs more time than initially anticipated. This is how the flow is in any urgent care. The staff is constantly dealing with the unknown. Therefore, it’s challenging to make a definitive statement on the average appointment length. On a good day with a few people in line before you, you could get in and out in well under an hour. When an urgent care is full and you have a complicated medical concern, your visit could take longer than expected. The staff at Statcare knows how to keep the flow of patients moving. So, if you are there just for a PPD Test Reading or a vaccine, you will be able to get in and out in less than 20-30 minutes.
Our Goal: Shorter Appointment Times
At Statcare, we try hard to keep your urgent care appointments to much less than an hour. We understand that most of our patients are busy at work during the week, or simply can’t waste an entire day sitting in a waiting room. Part of our success for reducing time spent at our urgent care centers is offering several convenient locations. We built our urgent care centers close to public transportation because we want you to come in, get treated and go on your way again quickly.
While we want to be efficient, we don’t want to rush you through your appointment either. Our doctors will answer all your questions thoroughly and pay attention to the symptoms you describe. We are constantly juggling quality patient care with the best use of your time. We think we do a good job of getting it right.
Urgent Care Innovations to Cut Down on Wait Time
Statcare is always innovating our service offerings and procedures to make sure that you’re getting the quality care you need. We also focus on the future of medicine. We’ve created an efficient Telemedicine department to keep pace.
Telemedicine appointments, or online appointments, are very similar to a traditional urgent care visit. However, they are much more convenient. You can schedule an appointment with your online doctor from anywhere as long as you have a reliable connection to wifi. During your virtual appointment, the doctor can diagnose conditions, and answer your questions. All of this can be done from the comfort of your own house. Avoid worrying about extra commuting time or even wait times. Just select the time that works for you and join your appointment when it’s time.
Before we started our Telemedicine practice, we made sure that it would be as convenient as possible for our customers. There was clearly a need for a more convenient urgent care option. Also, many other parts of the country had success with online doctors, but we wanted ours to be the best choice available. Therefore, we ensured that our online doctors could write prescriptions when necessary. We also work health insurance providers to help cover the costs. It wasn’t truly innovative, in our opinion, unless our patients could get all the benefits of a traditional in-person appointment.
So far, our online doctor services have been a great success for our patients. Customers who use the service love it. Also, those who still come in for a traditional urgent care visit are excited about the decrease in wait time. The overwhelming and positive feedback only encourages us to continue to focus on innovative services.
Here is a little secret. If you are in any Statcare locations and see that it is taking longer than you had planned, you can always ask for a Telemedicine visit. A telemedicine provider can order tests, you send out medication refills, and email your sick note for work.
Testing and Vaccinations at Urgent Care
Some patients only come to urgent care when they need a quick test done. Although it may vary by day, these appointments are generally much shorter than other types of urgent care visits. Because our staff is prepared for routine tests, we can handle a high volume of patients quickly. Be sure to highlight this when you are first greeted by our staff that is checking you in. Let them know you are here just for a flu vaccine or a PPD Reading or a specific blood test. They will make sure you get taken care of quickly.
STD Testing at Urgent Care
STD testing can be an uncomfortable scenario that patients don’t want to experience with their regular, everyday doctor. They’d prefer a discrete location with a doctor they may never see again. We totally understand, and we encourage people to make urgent care appointments with us for these kinds of screenings.
When you arrive for STD testing at Statcare Urgent Care, our staff can typically process your tests quickly and efficiently. We all make ourselves available to answer any questions you may have, particularly around STI treatment and next steps. We also know that this is likely an appointment you want to speed through, so we don’t take any more of your time than we have to.
Fortunately, if you’re in a time crunch, you don’t have to wait around to hear the results of STD testing. Our offices will contact you about your results and help you navigate the next steps, no matter what your test shows. Quality care and convenience are what Statcare is all about!
DOT Physical at Statcare
Another routine service offering that we offer at Statcare are DOT physicals. These are physical examinations that commercial truck drivers must pass in order to be eligible to do their job. It includes physical fitness, hearing, vision and urine tests. The Statcare staff has worked to make the entire process efficient. Appointments typically only take approximately 30 minutes in our urgent care centers. As long as you come with all the correct information we require, you should be able to have a seamless appointment.
Vaccines at Urgent Care
Lastly, many people visit Statcare Urgent Care because we offer flu shots at a convenient location. You don’t need an appointment for a flu shot or any vaccine. Statcare keeps MMR, Tdap, Typhoid, Yellow Fever, Hepatitis, Varicella and many other vaccines. Just come down to any one of our locations and ask for one. Patients who only want a shot can check in online, come into the office and check in on the kiosk to skip the wait in waiting room. Because you have an appointment, you will be taken directly to the doctor administering the shots. Come in for a flu shot on your lunch break or right after work. We’ll be ready for you!
Ways to Prevent Long Urgent Care Appointments
Certain elements of urgent care are simply unpredictable. You never know how many people will start to feel ill or injured at the same time. However, there are steps to take to make the best use of your time at an urgent care location.
The first tip is to make an appointment. With a designated appointment, you are guaranteed to meet with the doctor. You won’t have to worry about sneaking in before the doors close and hoping you’ll be seen by one of our staff members. Urgent care appointments are designed so you can walk in right before your appointment and typically head home in well under an hour.
Schedule an online doctor’s appointment before you come in to see a doctor in person. See the doctor via telemedicine, get a diagnosis and treatment. You would only visit one of our urgent care locations if you need additional tests or a follow-up visit.
While we’re on the subject of questions, write yours down before you show up for your urgent care appointment. In the hustle and bustle of their appointment, many people tend to forget the specific questions they were hoping to ask their doctor. Avoid the dreadful feeling of going home with a list of unanswered questions by writing down exactly what you want to know. Your Statcare doctor will be more than happy to go through each point with you, one by one.
What If My Urgent Care Appointment Isn’t Long Enough?
Do you frequently leave urgent care visit wanting a little more information? Or maybe you need a little more guidance as you navigate your treatment plan. In that case, we suggest making a follow-up online doctor appointment. With this telemedicine appointment, you don’t have to travel directly to an urgent care location. We can address your questions about over the phone. Get answers to other issues that you may have recently identified. Our patients tell us that they like the option of having both in-person and online urgent care visits.
At Statcare, we promise to always focus on reducing your time at urgent care. We want to make you healthy as quickly as possible — usually, that means getting you a treatment plan and getting you home to rest. If you have any suggestions for how we can improve our system, we’d always love to hear from you! Contact us by phone or click here to learn more about our urgent care services.
