Amanda Wilde (Host): Hear about the uses and benefits of urgent care services with Dr. Rob Klein. Dr. Klein is a physician and Medical Director at San Juan Health Partners Urgent Care. This is Celebrate Health from San Juan Regional Medical Center. I'm your host, Amanda Wilde. Welcome to the podcast, Dr. Klein.

Dr. Rob Klein: Thank you. Good morning.

Host: Good morning. Hopefully, a good morning for those of us who are seeking care. I'm wondering, when do we go to urgent care? What is urgent care? How does that differ from the emergency room and primary care?

Dr. Rob Klein: Generally, I sometimes think of urgent care as a little bit of a bridge between those two indispensable tools In the community, definitely not an alternative to the ER for non-life-threatening issues. The ER is completely essential, of course, but it can be a little more expensive, there can be longer waits.

At our urgent care, we try to see patients as quickly as possible. Copays and costs can be quite a bit lower. They still often get physician level care. We try to take pressures off the emergency department by kind of managing the majority of urgent problems right here in the community. And also, we're definitely not replacing primary care, which is extremely integral to a healthy community, but we try to complement it. Many primary care offices in a lot of towns, and I know our town are booked out for weeks. They might also not be equipped to handle same-day emergencies like a fracture or a laceration. So, we try to fill that gap. Patients can walk in when something urgent comes up, get it taken care of right away. And then, we always try to direct them towards following up with their regular primary care doctor. So, just trying to be a supportive role, keeping people healthier, preventing small issues from becoming big ER visits.

Host: Right. Well, the question is, when you do have an emergency, when should you go to urgent care versus emergency room?

Dr. Rob Klein: It's a bit of a moving target. But in general, we've got a big sign up that says Minor Illness and Injuries. So, definitely minor injuries are our bread and butter. Sprain, strains, fractures, burns, lacerations, which are cuts, anything needing stitches that isn't squirting blood across the room, we will try to tackle. And then, infections, basic infections, respiratory infections, ear infections, urinary tract infections. We're coming up on respiratory season, so we're going to be seeing pneumonias, asthma flareups, certainly a lot of fever and flu, and now COVID. So, we see a lot of folks who've got a GI bug with vomiting and diarrhea and have dehydration, might need some IV fluids. And we've, in our urgent care, got x-ray and basic lab testing. So, we're trying to attend to that end of the spectrum of care.

Host: Do most emergency visits fall into that urgent care category, the sorts of injuries you just mentioned?

Dr. Rob Klein: Hard to say. I would say we certainly have a role in catching the non-emergency room visits, and there are a lot of them. It can be hard to differentiate. But if you're comfortable driving or being driven across town, we're happy to take a look. And if things supersede our abilities, we will carefully package you up and get you over to the emergency room by ambulance as quickly as possible.

Host: So in a way, it sounds like it might be more convenient to start with urgent care unless you know your emergency is so dire that you really need the emergency room. But I always looked at urgent cares when they first started coming out as sort of a relief for the emergency room. So, it does sound like it does, as you said, fall in that space between primary care and emergency room care. What would you say the benefits are of choosing urgent care? I just mentioned one that it sounds more convenient. You mentioned it can be less expensive.

Dr. Rob Klein: Those are big ones. We have an emergency room with incredibly capable doctors, but sometimes that wait can be long and we're here to try to take pressure off that and happy to see folks as quickly as possible. Sometimes immediately at times that can be longer. But cost, you mentioned is a big element. The ER visits can be expensive and we come in at a much lower price. So in our particular urgent care, which is a little different than your typical urgent care, we've been here for, gosh, I think 35 years, which is really coming in when urgent care was just a concept in its infancy. And so, we've been part of the community. Most of our caregivers and clinical staff know half the people who walk in. So, you're walking into kind of part of your own community when you seek kelp there. And we've got quite a number of physicians compared to your typical urgent care. We've got four docs on staff. Oftentimes, we're in there together, conferring, working on decisions together, which has been part of the reason I've loved it there so much. But it's a place where you can get hospital level care quickly and less expensively if your issue is not a clear-cut emergency.

Host: Can you sort of outline what one could expect during a visit, just sort of how the process goes?

Dr. Rob Klein: Sure. So, you would come in the front door, get checked in, come through our CSRs at the front desk. And they would, if you are needing to be seen right away, get you back into a room. If you have the ability to wait for a little while, you take a seat. An MA or nurse would come get you, take your vitals, bring you to a room, and they would present the patient to us. And we would come in. We've got a good pace. Oftentimes folks come in with one issue, and that's great. If other issues come up like a high blood pressure, we'll address those as well. But we'll try to see you, take care of you and hopefully get you packaged up. And if you need to go to the ER, we'll get you over there if you're doing well and you're stable and things are fixed, we'll try to have you follow up with primary care.

Host: It really does, as you say, bridge that gap because I know from going, your primary care physician is someone who knows you, and you can talk about how your body reacts to certain things and really knows you as an individual emergency care. I have noticed in my few trips over a lifetime to the emergency room, you know, it's fix you up and get you out. And if it's not a true emergency, I mean, there's not as much concern if you can still swallow and breathe, you know, sometimes they'll refer you out. So, you said, this really seems like a perfect fit for things that fall in between both of those things, something that's urgent, but perhaps not life-threatening.

Dr. Rob Klein: It's a good net to span those two worlds. I think somebody once called it the connective tissue between the ER and primary care. And it's been a good role for me. I definitely like the pace of it, seeing more procedures, and higher acuity. And actually, over the last seven years, getting to know the community a little bit. Although, you're right, this is not a primary care relationship, which I think is invaluable to have. But it's been a great community to work in.

Host: You mentioned some things that really set San Juan Health Partners Urgent Care apart, even as other urgent care facilities come up in the area, that you've been there 35 years, that you are community-based in a way that other franchises are not. Now as medical director, what would you say is the best thing about your group at San Juan Health Partners Urgent Care?

Dr. Rob Klein: The kind of intangible that comes from all those things you just mentioned is we're really a little community within a community. People have worked in our office for decades. And when you walk in, you get the sense of a group of people who are friends at work and outside of work, but know how to work hard together and are able to keep each other sort of buoyant and present throughout the day.

It's been my home away from home. It's a place where somebody can come in and feel like they're sort of walking into a family that is there to care for them and give them good care, not just a group of strangers who will just kind of take care, give some tests and get them out the door. So, I think that's my favorite part, and honestly, one of the more effective parts of our personal care model.

Host: You're not just a number.

Dr. Rob Klein: No. You're momentarily part of a team and a family, which I think a lot of patients feel. And it's been great to see.

Host: Yeah, that's great support when you are injured or not feeling well.

Dr. Rob Klein: Exactly. You're coming in and sometimes one of the worst days of your life. And so, it's good to walk into a group of people who have been there and remember that and remind each other of that and form a community around being helpful in those areas.

Host: Well, Dr. Klein, thank you for this information about the role of urgent care in your community

Dr. Rob Klein: Thank you. Great questions.

Host: And great answers, great information. Dr. Rob Klein is a physician and Medical Director at San Juan Health Partners Urgent Care. Visit San Juan Health Partners Urgent Care for your urgent medical needs open every day from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM. You can always learn more at sanjuanregional.com. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and check out the full podcast library for episodes that are of interest to you. Thanks for listening to Celebrate Health from San Juan Regional Medical Center.