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Archives for April 2021

What Can a Family Doctor in Wellington Treat?

Family medicine is grounded on the most basic social unit—the family. Family medicine doctors receive specialized training in the diagnosis and treatment of the entire spectrum of medical conditions that affect the members of an entire family unit: the mother, the father, the children, and even the grandparents.

It doesn’t mean, however, that you need to have a family to be attended to by a family doctor. Rather, it implies that family doctors can provide care to patients of all ages, throughout their lives, and for multiple generations at the same time.  

To get a better insight into how you can benefit from the expertise of a family doctor, let’s explore the various conditions they treat and the scope of their services.

Emerging, Acute, and Chronic Conditions

 

As your primary care provider, your family doctor knows your medical history and can evaluate new and unusual symptoms, which may be indicative of a development of a potentially serious medical condition. In other words, if you’re experiencing symptoms that you suspect to be those of a chronic condition, your family doctor is the usually the first physician you see to ascertain whether these symptoms are any cause for concern. Your family doctor will then order the necessary tests, interpret the results, and constantly monitor your symptoms to see if there’s any progression.

Should these symptoms point to a chronic condition, your family doctor can provide personalized, ongoing treatment and coordinate your care with other sub-specialists, when need be. Common chronic diseases treated by family doctors include arthritis, asthma, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, and hypertension.

Your family doctor is also your go-to – and often, your only stop– for appropriate diagnoses and treatment of acute conditions, such as urinary tract infection, cold, flu, sinus infection, ear infection, among others.

Women’s Health

Contrary to what many women think, a wellness appointment with their OB/GYN doesn’t necessarily cover their primary care needs. Albeit an OB/GYN can cover specific gynecologic or reproductive health issues, it isn’t the same as seeing a family doctor.

A recent study indicates that women who consult their family doctors for preventive care receive a broader range of care. The bottom line is that visits with family doctors can complement visits with OB/GYNs.

Other Services Provided by a Family Doctor

Apart from diagnosing and providing treatment for diseases, family doctors also provide health and nutrition counseling, health-risk assessments, early pregnancy care, family planning, wellness checkups, immunizations, and screening tests. 

Family Medicine Provider in Wellington and Royal Palm Beach

If you’ve been on the world wide web to search for a family doctor in Wellington, Florida, your search ends here. At Advanced Medical Clinic, our board-certified family nurse practitioner–Shariffa Gunawardene—is a family medicine provider, who is dedicated to delivering evidence-based, compassionate, and patient-centered care to everyone in our community.

 To schedule an appointment with Shariffa, call us at (561) 434-1935. You may also use this secure online appointment form.

The Difference Between a Walk-In Clinic and Urgent Care Clinic

Are you one of those people who are unsure as to which type of healthcare facility you should seek treatment at in the event of a medical situation? 

Depending on the nature of your condition or injury, you have a variety of options you can try, but your ideal options are a walk-in clinic and an urgent care clinic. Let’s delineate their distinctions to help you determine where you’re supposed to go for a particular medical situation.

Treatment and Services

A walk-in clinic, also referred to as a retail clinic, is designed is for quick visits. Walk-in clinics are the ones you see in grocery stores, pharmacies, and “big box” stores, such as Target and Walmart. Some of the services you can acquire at walk-in clinics are treatment for simple, acute conditions, vaccinations, drug prescriptions for common conditions, and blood pressure checks. 

Urgent care clinics, on the other hand, are typically freestanding facilities. Services in urgent care clinics include treatment for acute illnesses or minor injuries, such as urinary tract infections (UTIs), minor cuts and abrasions, minor burns, simple fractures, among others.

If you have a condition or injury that is not serious enough to be considered life-threatening, but it needs prompt medical intervention, then your best course of action is to go to an urgent care clinic. Also, because walk-in clinics have a limited menu of services, if you are living with multiple chronic health conditions, your best bet is to go to a primary care practice that offers urgent care services.

Staff and Equipment

One of the major differences between these facilities is the staffing: urgent care clinics are required by law to have at least one board-certified primary care doctor, whereas walk-in clinics typically only have nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

Moreover, most urgent care facilities have multiple exam rooms and more advanced medical and diagnostic equipment. These are for conducting x-rays, administering IVs, and treating injuries.

Costs

Walk-in clinics provide more affordable options and less expensive treatments than urgent care clinics do. It is because walk-in clinics are primarily geared toward catering to the uninsured and underinsured. Urgent care services, nonetheless, are less expensive than emergency room services.

 

Urgent Care Clinic in Wellington and Royal Palm Beach, FL

 

At Advanced Medical in Wellington and Royal Palm Beach, Florida, we are essentially a primary care practice that is committed to providing comprehensive, patient-centered urgent care services to people of all ages in our community. Whether what you have is an acute or chronic medical condition, you can rest assured that we will provide you with the highest quality of evidence-based medical care.

If you have an acute medical situation that needs prompt treatment, you can either walk in or book a same-day appointment by calling us at (561) 434-1935. Alternatively, you may fill out our appointment request form.  We look forward to building a long-term relationship with you!