An urgent care nurse is a medical professional who works in an urgent care setting, which is typically a medical facility that caters to patients who require medical care right away but do not require emergency room treatment. An urgent care nurse, like other types of nurses, must be educated in the field of medicine, usually through a post-secondary training program offered by a college or university, and will work alongside doctors and other medical professionals.
An urgent care nurse, or more likely several nurses, will be hired by urgent care clinics to assist patients with a variety of illnesses and injuries, as well as paperwork and payment for services. An urgent care clinic, unlike a hospital, is typically not open 24 hours a day and may only be open on certain days of the week. This means that an urgent care nurse will most likely work a set schedule, with night shifts being rare. Even though the urgent care clinic will be prepared to handle some types of emergencies, if a patient requires emergency care, the clinic will usually refer that patient to an emergency room.
The specific responsibilities of an urgent care nurse vary greatly depending on the clinic where he or she works and the type of training the nurse has received. Some nurses focus on a specific area of medicine, such as pediatrics, while others have a broader scope. Because the staff at an urgent care clinic is likely to be much smaller than that of a hospital, where specialized employees will take care of various tasks, the nurse may be responsible for a variety of tasks, from drawing blood to filing paperwork.
Patients can receive medical care without making an appointment at an urgent care facility, which is different from traditional doctor’s offices. An emergency room can provide the same level of care, but some illnesses do not necessitate a trip there. A person with flu-like symptoms, for example, would not go to the emergency room, but he or she might have trouble getting an appointment with a regular doctor. As a result, the most appropriate channel for attention is an urgent care facility.