Introduction
During the last two decades, emergency care units have emerged all around the state, and the number of urgent care units is rising day by day. The flaws regarding patients’ access to initial and urgent care have broadened. Emergency care units are established and spread out to solve this issue. Shortcomings of primary care providers and changes in initial care services, such as limited night and holiday availability, are causes of patients’ transfer to emergency care. The extraordinary charges of emergency healthcare units for non-urgent matters likewise make patients search for a substitute with lower costs and better healthcare facilities. Insurance programs and the companies that pay the benefits are eager to help patients locate urgent care units instead of guiding them toward emergency care units in the area. Moreover, as much of the charges are borne by the patient, a lower-cost choice of urgent care is the definite preference.
Background
At this time, there are more than 9000 urgent care units in the US alone; they are becoming more prevalent with every passing day. However, the latest record of ambulatory care has resulted in a modest but continuous rise in centers. It is believed that the concept of urgent care came into being at the beginning of the 1970s due to the launching of separate health centers by several doctors to provide facilities to patients for severe but non-urgent health care. This trend became more corporate in the mid-1980s before a quick drop in later years. A lot of reasons have been suggested for this rapid drop. Several of the former substitute care units were supervised by doctors who were not experts in services required for urgent care centers, and quality issues were also identified. But this does not mean that urgent care centers diminished completely; it was just a wrong beginning for this task (Weinick, Bristol, & DesRoches, 2009).
There are several definitions available for explaining ambulatory care, such as the delivery of spontaneous medical care, easy access for anyone at any time, advanced facilities essential for initial care, and very low charges. Urgent care offers real, continuous care to spontaneous patients. Some offer scheduled appointments and initial care, but such care centers are not available at all times and don’t show any difference from the normal emergency care system. Increased availability, when compared with primary care centers, also exemplifies urgent care. On-time X-rays, arterial treatments and solutions, healing of cuts, foreign-body removal, elementary fracture treatment, and medications for boils and blisters are common. Beyond normal CLIA-waived tests, for example, sore-throat and urine tests, urgent care units normally perform blood work. This includes complete blood tests and basic metabolic panels. In some urgent care centers, facilities for CT scans, ultrasound, and MRI are also accessible. Some studies have revealed that for similar medical issues, the charges in urgent care are normally between one-third and one-tenth of the expenses of emergency treatment of patients (Sean McNeeley, 2012).
Definition Of Terms
Urgent Care
Urgent care is the care needed by a patient to prevent a serious health-related problem. It is a facility that is provided outside the emergency room of the hospital.
Emergency Care
Emergency care is the care provided to a patient in a life-threatening condition to save the patient’s life.
General Problem
A large number of Americans try to get non-urgent care in emergency care centers, where they usually experience delays of several hours. Urgent care units and retail health care centers have developed as substitutes for emergency care centers for non-urgent care. It was estimated that 13.7 to 27.1% of all emergency care visits could occur at one of these substitute centers, with possible cost savings of about $4.4 billion per year. The main conditions that could be treated at such centers comprise acute infections, disorders, anxieties, and fractures. It is proven that patients choose such care centers for their safety. However, more research is mandatory to make sure that the same superior care is delivered at ambulatory care units and retail health centers as at emergency units (Grumbach, Keane, & Bindman, 1993). Although thousands of urgent care units are present in America, there is still a need for more care units that can work as urgent care centers. These centers are important to provide care due to the delivery of spontaneous medical care, ease of access for anyone at any time, advanced facilities essential for initial care, and very low charges. Urgent care offers real, continuous care to spontaneous patients, so more care units are required to be arranged by the government according to the needs of the population.
Specific Problem
In the US, centers of urgent care gained fundamental importance in the previous few decades and proliferated extensively in the past few years. The Urgent Care Association of America (UCAOA) declared that UC is provided to patients on a walk-in basis outside hospital emergency departments. The importance of UC centers increased in Lamar County due to overcrowding in the emergency centers of different hospitals. A criterion was set by UCAOA about the minimum facilities provided at a UC center in the County. It involves:
- Provision of acute episodic care for some common medical disorders
- Unscheduled appointments of patients on a walk-in basis
- Extended working hours
- On-site X-ray amenities
- Provision of some advanced procedures such as casting and stitching of wounds.
Despite the criteria set by the UCAOA, the quality of health care is extremely poor in Lamar County. On the other hand, patients are unaware of their illnesses and run to hospital emergency departments. Due to a lack of knowledge about illness, the rate of preventable hospital admissions is very high in Lamar County and can be decreased by increasing awareness among patients. Of a total of 1000 hospital admissions, 70 are preventable and can be treated in an urgent care unit or a community clinic. There is a need to improve facilities in urgent care units and to increase awareness among patients about using urgent care centers.
Problem Statement (Purpose Of The Problem)
The launching of separate health centers by several doctors to provide facilities to patients for severe but non-urgent health care is common in the US. Urgent care centers are facilities provided to patients in different areas of America, but still, there is a shortage of urgent care centers in the US compared with the population of the country. Different services are provided by UC to some patients, but the need of the hour is to understand patients’ perceptions about this setting. The factors that affect patient satisfaction in UC need attention, and a lot of improvements can be made to improve the health facilities in Lamar County. The cost of treatment in UC affects the quality of care and needs to be studied in detail for better management and improved experiences for patients. The main advantage of UC for patients is the low-cost treatment of their illnesses on an urgent basis. In several areas, due to awareness, patients visit urgent care units instead of hospital emergency rooms, and advanced facilities are provided by UC in different cities of the US. However, in Lamar County, the healthcare situation is critical due to the increased population and poor health facilities. This study will focus on the reasons for the shortage of urgent care units in America as well as the healthcare problems of Lamar County. Furthermore, it will discuss the problems faced by patients due to the shortage of urgent care units in rural areas of the County.
Theoretical Framework
Research about healthcare provisions has mentioned that a patient’s satisfaction with health services affects his decision about future use of the facility. According to previous literature, the provision of the best service and fulfillment of the demands of a patient in an appropriately professional way increases the chances of patients’ visits to healthcare centers (Choi, Lee, Kim, & Lee, 2005). The research design of the study is a quantitative analysis of secondary data along with a survey of 300 patients who visited an urgent care center in the previous six months for treatment. The survey results will be gathered to check the performance of urgent care centers through patient responses. The survey will help to make a comparison of the cost and quality of health care at ambulatory care centers and hospitals. The perceptions of patients regarding facilities provided at healthcare centers in America, especially in Lamar County, and further improvements will be discussed in detail.
Objectives Of This Study
This study will address the main issues related to ambulatory care centers of Lamar County, including the cost and quality of treatment of patients compared with other healthcare centers such as hospitals. The satisfaction level of patients will be considered regarding urgent care, and further required improvements in this setting will be discussed in detail. The study will highlight the issues and discrepancies related to ambulatory care in Lamar County and the shortage of urgent care centers in the rural areas of the County.
Research Questions
RQ1: How are urgent care facilities provided in America?
RQ2: What is the level of satisfaction with the Urgent Care Facility in rural areas of Lamar County, USA?
RQ3: How can the shortage of urgent care in Lamar County, USA, be improved?
Significance Of Study
The purpose of the current study is to test the association between urgent health care and patient satisfaction in this setting in Lamar County, America. Along with this, the current study will discuss the effect of ambulatory care on the cost and quality of treatment of patients compared with other healthcare settings in the county. It will address the issue of the shortage of UC in rural areas of the County and its effects on patients who need urgent care. The findings of the research will help to improve the amenities of urgent care to increase patients’ confidence in these facilities. The study will help ambulatory management increase the quality of its services to increase patient satisfaction.
Literature Review
In the US, centers of urgent care gained great importance in the previous few decades and proliferated extensively in the past few years. These centers can be easily accessed compared with other healthcare centers and provide extended hours of treatment facilities related to primary care. The services are usually provided from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., seven days a week. Some UCs deal with patients throughout the week, 24 hours a day, and they offer medical support to patients whenever outpatients need it. The main reason for patients’ choice of UC seems to be extended hours (Qin, Prybutok, & Prybutok, 2016).
UC center visits are much less expensive compared with hospital emergency rooms, which charge three to four times more than a UC. The issues related to hospital emergency care units are increasing, and there is a need to solve them by designing strategies from the health department. This situation can be dealt with through several solutions, which include increased funds for emergency care units, further allocation of beds for patients who need hospitalization, and the establishment of urgent care units neighboring emergency care centers for quick handling of less serious issues. Another approach is the introduction of cost sharing for patients and the rejection of admission to emergency care centers for patients with non-emergent problems (Yee, Lechner, & Boukus, 2013). Grumbach, Keane, & Bindman (1993) stated that it is necessary to permit substitute care units to train themselves to decide on treatment for patients by placing a greater time value on patients seeking services from emergency care units (Grumbach, Keane, & Bindman, 1993). According to Qin (2009), a definite strategy was required to expand access to other initial care centers that deliver continuous care for all severe and chronic diseases and effectively change the approach of experts and physicians toward emergency care centers. This scheme required identifying patients who use urgent care centers for routine checkups because of barriers to using initial care services, making suitable referrals of such patients to centers providing initial care services, and expanding the capability of the initial care system to accommodate poor patients (Qin, 2009).
Expected Results
The results of the current study will demonstrate the significance of urgent care for patients and the satisfactory behaviour of patients toward ambulatory care units. The results will reveal which areas of urgent care need further improvements. The recommendations of this research will assist the administration of ambulatory care units in developing improved plans for the future urgent care of patients.
References
Choi, K., Lee, H., Kim, C., & Lee, S. (2005). The service quality dimensions and patient satisfaction relationships in South Korea: Comparisons across gender, age, and types of service. Journal of Services Marketing, 19(3), 140-149.
Grumbach., K., Keane., D., & Bindman., A. (1993). A Primary Care and public emergency department overcrowding. American Journal of Public Health, 372-378.
Hong Qin. (2009). Links Among Perceived Service Quality, Patient Satisfaction and Behavioral Intentions in The Urgent Care Industry. The university OF NORTH TEXAS.
Qin, H., Prybutok, V., & Prybutok, G. (2016). Quantitative comparison of measurements of urgent care service quality. Health Marketing Quarterly, 33(1), 59-77.
Sean McNeeley., M. (2012). Urgent Care Centers: An Overview. American J Journal of Clinical Medicine, 9(2).
Weinick, R. M., Bristol, S. J., & DesRoches, C. M. (2009). Urgent care centers in the US: findings from a national survey. , 9(1), 79. BMC health services research, 9(1), 79.
Weinick, R. M., Burns, R. M., & Mehrotra, A. (2010). Many emergency department visits could be managed at urgent care centers and retail clinics. Health Affairs, 29(9), 1630-1636.
Yee, T., Lechner, A. E., & Boukus, E. R. (2013). The surge in urgent care centers: emergency department alternative or costly convenience. Center for Studying Health System Change Research.
Academic Master Education Team is a group of academic editors and subject specialists responsible for producing structured, research-backed essays across multiple disciplines. Each article is developed following Academic Master’s Editorial Policy and supported by credible academic references. The team ensures clarity, citation accuracy, and adherence to ethical academic writing standards
Content reviewed under Academic Master Editorial Policy.
