Emergency Room, Urgent Care, or Primary Care—Making the Right Choice
Dr. David Carpenter, the Humble Doctor, Offers Guidance in Selecting a Medical Care Facility
Humble, Texas—August 8, 2011—With wait times at emergency rooms growing and urgent care facilities popping up in strip centers across Houston, some consumers are left wondering which medical care facility is best for them. Dr. David Carpenter of Humble Family Practice urges people in the Humble area to seek primary care first in most cases.
“Unless you are experiencing a life-threatening emergency like a heart attack or a severe injury,” said Dr. David Carpenter of Humble Family Practice, “primary care centers are typically the best bet. Your regular doctor knows your medical history and has a strong interest in your long-term health.”
The emergency room at a local hospital is the best place to go for people experiencing life-threatening emergencies and late-night trauma. Emergency rooms are capable of providing inpatient care, trauma services, emergency services, outpatient services, and more. Emergency room staff can quickly recognize, diagnose, treat, and make recommendations for a wide variety of medical problems. People who visit emergency rooms for minor and non-life-threatening medical issues can typically expect to wait a considerable amount of time to be seen and released.
“If you are experiencing severe symptoms and you feel your health is at serious risk, call 911 or drive to the nearest hospital,” said Dr. Carpenter. “The emergency room is for these types of significant emergencies.”
Urgent care facilities made a splash in recent years by exploiting the notoriously slow service at emergency rooms for patients with minor medical issues and by offering services when most primary care offices are closed. Urgent care physicians offer quick medical attention for non-life-threatening problems when a patient’s primary care physician is unavailable. Urgent care centers are similar to primary care facilities, but offer care on a walk-in basis with extended hours.
According to Dr. Carpenter, “The time to go to an urgent care facility is when your primary physician is not available and you are experiencing issues like ear infections, sprains, simple cuts, and minor eye injuries.”
Primary care providers are the backbone of the medical industry, offering front-line and long-term care for most people. While many primary care centers are open during the week only, some innovative primary care facilities like Humble Family Practice offer extended hours, weekend care, and same-day appointments. These innovative primary care centers offer all the benefits of seeing a doctor who is familiar with a patient during urgent care facility hours.
“Our message at Humble Family Practice is simple,” said Dr. Carpenter. “You call today, you get seen today.”
About Humble Family Practice
Humble Family Practice is a clinic in Humble dedicated to providing quality healthcare, offering extended and weekend hours. Dr. David Carpenter and his staff treat everyone from newborns to the elderly with the kindness, patience, and professionalism they deserve.
For more information about Humble Family Practice or Dr. David Carpenter’s commitment to provide prompt, friendly, quality medical care, visit the Humble Doctor page.