Urgent Care Dedicated Strictly to Orthopedics
As a Division of Pacific Coast Medicine, we proudly partner with a variety of medical professionals. We are one of the few facilities in the country that offers urgent care dedicated strictly to orthopedics.
What you can expect:
- Short wait time compared to ER
- Prompt evaluation
- Expert treatment by orthopedic surgeons
- Convenient and quick access
- Innovative, specialized equipment
- Immediate treatment
During our business hours, a patient sustaining a musculoskeletal injury can walk in without an appointment, avoid the typical hospital wait times, and expect to be evaluated and treated by our orthopedic professionals promptly and properly.
Avoid the average emergency room wait time of 30 minutes to 1 hour.
Every year, of the 129.8 million emergency room visits, over 37.9 million are injury-related. It is no wonder that the national average wait time to be seen by an emergency room health care provider ranges from 29 to 59 minutes (2,3). In Los Angeles, it is not uncommon to wait many hours. Also, emergency rooms often employ physician assistants and nurse practitioners to handle the non-life-threatening injuries. It is common for the general practitioners in emergency departments to screen for limb-threatening injuries and refer patients to be definitively treated by an orthopedic surgeon at a later date. To a patient who is suffering from an orthopedic injury, such as a fracture or sprain, pain and anxiety may be overwhelming as they wait to learn the expert’s opinion of what the best treatment will be such as a cast or surgery.
Immediately treating a musculoskeletal injury positively affects its healing process, whereas waiting hours or even minutes can lead to complications.
Proper immediate treatment of an injury is one of the most valuable steps to a smooth and timely recovery. Injuries that require urgent care, such as acute sports injuries (i.e. dislocations, sprains, strains, fractures, etc.), result in an immediate onset of symptoms that are natural, yet can often inhibit the body’s healing processes if not attended to as soon as possible. Delaying the treatment of bleeding, swelling, pain, and deformity can result in the development of complications, such as blood loss, excessive swelling, soft tissue and neurovascular damage, and contamination or infection at the site of injury (1).
At Pacific Coast Sports Medicine we take care of orthopedic injuries from start to finish; from initial evaluations to individualized rehabilitation programs. Our professional knowledge and readily available resources (i.e. digital x-ray, casts, specialized orthopedic equipment, etc.) allow our clinicians to diagnose the conditions quickly and accurately, and propose the ideal treatment without delay. Depending on the injury, proper therapy for recovery may even be started the same day if appropriate.
Instead of general practitioners or nurses, our orthopedic specialists examine, diagnose, and care for you and your injury from beginning to end.
Don’t subject yourself to the unpleasant, chaotic setting of a hospital ER; you have the choice to enjoy our top-tier treatment from our friendly, courteous staff and specialized doctors. Our facility is located on the ground level of an exceptionally accessible building with one-hour free parking just outside our entrance. This allows easy access and optimal convenience for our patients usually at reduced rates compared to emergency rooms. You will leave our facility knowing exactly your diagnosis, the proper treatment, and have the phone number of an orthopedic specialist who knows you if further complications arise.
References:
- Complications from Fractures: Patient Web site. Accessed November 17, 2014.
- Groeger L, Tigas M, Wei S. ER Wait Watcher: PRO Publica – Journalism in the Public Interest Web site. Accessed November 17, 2014. Posted November 12, 2014.
- National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 2010 Emergency Department Summary Tables. The Ambulatory and Hospital Care Statistics Branch: CDC Web site. Accessed November 17, 2014.
