Saturday, 4 May 2019

At A Walk In Clinic Tampa Residents Can Get Basic Medical Treatment

By Christine Snyder


It is only natural that people want the best possible medical care when they sustain injuries or when the fall ill. Sadly, very few people can afford such medical help. The fees charged by hospitals, doctors and other medical specialists are totally out of reach of the vast majority of people unless they have medical insurance. The vast number of poor people does not have medical insurance and without the services of a walk in clinic Tampa patients will be deprived of any care.

In the United States there are more than eleven thousands of these clinics scattered across thousands of areas. They are not the result of any coordinated effort and they are not regulated in any way. In many cases, they are run by churches and charities that depend on donations. Many are owned by pharmacies and there are some local councils that also run clinics.

Not all the clinics offer the same services. Some of them only deal with infants and pregnant women, for example. Others may only treat emergency cases and yet others focus on family planning. A few offer a wider range of services, specifically those run by pharmacies. None of these clinics can admit patients that need more than a single consultation and sometimes even some medication.

Patients flock to these clinics mainly because most of them have no other choice. The result is that most clinics carry very heavy patient loads. Many patients also attend clinics because they do not ask questions and will even help those in trouble with the law or that lives in the country without official knowledge or sanction. Most clinics open early and close late while there are even some that are open around the clock.

Critics admit that these clinics fulfill a very basic need, especially among the poor, but they lament the fact that they offer only very basic services. The large numbers of patients attending the clinics result in very long waiting times and there is never enough staff to cope with the demand. The result is that patients are processed as quickly as possible and this, critics say, inevitably lead to inferior service.

Unfortunately, a very small minority of clinics can boast the services of a qualified doctor. Most of them are manned by health workers and nurses. While they do what they can, they are not qualified or trained to diagnose medical conditions and they certainly cannot prescribe medication. This results in a situation where only symptoms are treated instead of the underlying condition that causes the symptoms.

Detractors also say that all doctors and specialists rely heavily on the medical history of the patients that the see. Without knowing what medication the patient used in the past, whether he has allergies or latent conditions such as diabetes and hypertension it is often very difficult to make an informed and accurate diagnosis. Clinics do not keep medical histories of the patients that they treat.

They may be under resourced and they may only be able to provide very basic care, but these clinics do help a lot of people and they alleviate a lot of suffering. Their patients are normally destitute and have no other options. One hopes that primary health care will become a bigger priority in the future.




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