Daily Archives: September 20, 2012

Walk-in urgent care clinics bring up concerns of poor quality healthcare

Many walk-in urgent care clinics have been popping up all over the country, often in retail stores like Walmart and Target as well as in pharmacies like Walgreens and CVS. However, this phenomenon has some patient care advocates worried about poor quality healthcare from these “doc-in-a-box” offices. They say that the doctors and nurses in these retail settings don’t build the important relationship that a regular doctor does and this can lead to a dangerous condition. In order to make an accurate diagnosis and treat the whole patient properly, the doctor needs to get to know the patient and obtain a full and complete medical history. Unfortunately, the rotating staff of the retail doctor offices along with the high likelihood that the patient will not be coming back to that office increase the possibility of medical malpractice. The doctors and nurses have limited diagnostic equipment such as x-rays, blood tests and urine tests. A top medical malpractice lawyer in New York City explains that this can be a recipe for disaster. A patient can be left with a wrong diagnosis or a missed diagnosis that can lead to permanent injury or illness. Some worry about lack of proper safety and oversight. Others have warned about a serious lack of proper follow up with patients after the urgent care office visit. A law firm that specializes in medical errors in New York says that these medical mistakes will be added to the long list of malpractice errors that already hurt too many victims. To find out more about the booming growth of retail urgent care doctor offices check out this article.