August 1, 2025 • 7 mins
How to Make the Most of Your Urgent Care Visit | Faster & Better Care
What to Bring and Ask at Urgent Care | Tips for a Smooth Visit
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome back to Urgent Care Unscripted,where we dive into real conversations
about health, wellness,and what really goes on behind
urgent care.
I'm Barbara Ron Alter, I'mthe director of operations
and business development for AFCUrgent Care in West Haven.
And this is Mohammad Zamani.
(00:21):
I'm the owner and franchiseeof the Urgent Care of West Haven.
Today we'll be talking aboutan interesting topic.
It's about like when, people are already under way
or sitting in the urgent care clinic,but have not thought about in advance
how to make the best use of your time
at the clinic,or how to maximize their visit at the.
(00:42):
Absolutely. We see this every day.
People come into the clinic,
they're in a rush, and todaywe're going to break it down.
How to make thingsa little bit faster for them.
And one of the things we're going to covertoday is what to bring
and how to prepare for your visit.
We're also goingto talk about communication
and how to communicate effectivelywith your provider.
And your clinic,and tips on how to make the,
(01:04):
the best of your visit make it smootherso you get the most of your visit.
And just let's start from the beginningbefore you have even started.
What can you do?
You could make an appointment or you couldwalk in both options that are available
typically at all urgent care,especially at our urgent care West Haven.
But making an appointment in advanceactually save you some time.
(01:26):
You spend less time,
filling in the forms at the front desk,and you get to see the provider sooner.
And that helps you.
That helps the clinic keep, the operation.
Yes. It's absolutely.
It's a big time saver.
Definitely speeds up the processwhen you come in and all your paperwork
is already completed.
Obviously, not everybodyhas the time to do it ahead of time.
(01:47):
So you can definitely come into the clinicand do the paperwork there, but
we'll definitely get you in and out wayfaster if you get that done beforehand.
Talking about paperwork,what are the two main, paperwork?
That sounds very easy.
That's it'syour photo ID and your insurance card.
Without a photo ID.
It could be a physical form of ID,or it could be a digital form of ID,
(02:09):
but without the photo ID becomesvery difficult to see a patient.
So we ask that you make sure that,before we have stepped into the clinic,
you know, you got a digital versionof the old and a physical version.
And obviously having the insurancecard helps out.
Yeah.
And, the next thing that I just kind of
want to point out regarding this visitand making it faster is communication.
(02:30):
So one big thing is making sureyou're effectively
communicating what it isthat you need at the time of your visit.
Keep in mind that it's an urgent care.
Typically our time is limited,unfortunately.
So if you're coming in and you have,you know, a couple of symptoms,
you want to make sure you're addressingyour most important symptom.
First, you want tothe one that you want to resolve today.
(02:53):
So if you're coming in with various thingslike a sore throat, but you also have,
you know, your back has been hurtingfor three months,
you might want to address your sore throatfirst and then you can either touch
we can touch on your
your back pain later,or you can come in a couple of days later.
Or we can schedule follow up to kind ofgo more into depth on those symptoms.
(03:14):
And just expanding on what Barbarajust said, about planning ahead.
Like she said, you could come in with manydifferent symptoms or treatment needs.
It could be one.
It could be multiple.
But planning ahead? Definitely. How?
Because that keeps the process efficient.
That helps the provider plan aheadand save you time.
That brings a good example of a patientthat came in
(03:36):
actually this patientand Barbara can expand more on that.
She, wanted to be seen in 45 minutesduring her lunch break.
The best thing she could have doneis she called us
around 11, that, hey,can you accommodate my need?
I have to be seen.
I have, such and such, concerns,but I only have 45 minutes
(03:57):
because she called ahead.
We could plan with her.She could plan with us.
And she was in and out in 45 minutes.
Yeah, absolutely.
It's definitely not something we canaccommodate for every single patient.
But if we know ahead of time,we can let you know what to expect.
If it was something that we couldn't
accommodate at the time of her visit,we would have told her.
(04:17):
Yeah. So transparency.
Like she said, it goes both ways.
If you communicate to us, then it becomesthe, clear communication from both ends.
We know what your expectations areand you know what you can do or not.
For the time you can affordto spend at the urgent care.
And then we can set up a realisticexpectation of when you should come,
(04:38):
how long you can expect to receiveand when you can actually get out.
to make things a little bit fasterfor the patients too.
We make sure we sendall of our prescriptions electronically.
I know that some providers might still dopaper or might call in the prescriptions.
One thing that we like to do
is send over the prescriptionsdirectly to the pharmacy, and making sure
that is also done effectivelyand as fast as we possibly can.
(05:02):
I think, Muhammad,
do you want to go a little bitabout some final tips and what else? Yes.
So everybody knowsit's an urgent care. Right.
So you come in here for a few, Covidtesting or, you have a fever
or you want to do a physical,like a physical
or annual physical, all of those things,we can accommodate that.
(05:23):
But then there is a difference
between us and and, emergency room. Right.
So if you have a chest pain,if you have difficulty breathing
or if you have some kind of a signthat's symptomatic of a stroke,
this would not be the placeyou would be best served
if you immediately contact, an emergency room
(05:44):
or a hospital to get the boxesso you can have some of those.
Absolutely. And feel free to call us.
We can definitely give you some advice.
We can't obviously give you medical adviceover the phone, but if you tell us
what your symptoms are, we can best adviseyou on whether to come in and see us,
or if we think that you would be betterserved at an emergency room.
We do understand emergency roomswait time can be a little bit longer,
(06:06):
but when it comes to an urgent care,there could be some circumstances
where we are limitedto what we can do within our walls.
So definitely costs ahead.
And let us know what your situation is.
If you are unsure about where to go.
To wrap up,I think we want to just talk about,
you know, book onlinebig, big, big help for you.
Bring your ID and your insurance card,make sure you're focused and direct
(06:29):
with your provider.
Tell us upfrontif you're on a time crunch.
Ask if we can,if there's anything we can do
and obviously be open and clearwith your provider.
So communication is key.
And with that note on communication,we'll catch you next time.
Until then, subscribe to urgent Care.
Crystal,this is Mohamed, and would you like,
(06:52):
see you next time.
See you next time.
Thanks so much for tuning in.
And we are at 354Sawmill Road in West Haven.
And come see us anytime you need us.
Welcome back to Urgent Care Unscripted,where we dive into real conversations
about health, wellness,and what really goes on behind
urgent care.
I'm Barbara Ron Alter, I'mthe director of operations
and business development for AFCUrgent Care in West Haven.
And this is Mohammad Zamani.
(00:21):
I'm the owner and franchiseeof the Urgent Care of West Haven.
Today we'll be talking aboutan interesting topic.
It's about like when, people are already under way
or sitting in the urgent care clinic,but have not thought about in advance
how to make the best use of your time
at the clinic,or how to maximize their visit at the.
(00:42):
Absolutely. We see this every day.
People come into the clinic,
they're in a rush, and todaywe're going to break it down.
How to make thingsa little bit faster for them.
And one of the things we're going to covertoday is what to bring
and how to prepare for your visit.
We're also goingto talk about communication
and how to communicate effectivelywith your provider.
And your clinic,and tips on how to make the,
(01:04):
the best of your visit make it smootherso you get the most of your visit.
And just let's start from the beginningbefore you have even started.
What can you do?
You could make an appointment or you couldwalk in both options that are available
typically at all urgent care,especially at our urgent care West Haven.
But making an appointment in advanceactually save you some time.
(01:26):
You spend less time,
filling in the forms at the front desk,and you get to see the provider sooner.
And that helps you.
That helps the clinic keep, the operation.
Yes. It's absolutely.
It's a big time saver.
Definitely speeds up the processwhen you come in and all your paperwork
is already completed.
Obviously, not everybodyhas the time to do it ahead of time.
(01:47):
So you can definitely come into the clinicand do the paperwork there, but
we'll definitely get you in and out wayfaster if you get that done beforehand.
Talking about paperwork,what are the two main, paperwork?
That sounds very easy.
That's it'syour photo ID and your insurance card.
Without a photo ID.
It could be a physical form of ID,or it could be a digital form of ID,
(02:09):
but without the photo ID becomesvery difficult to see a patient.
So we ask that you make sure that,before we have stepped into the clinic,
you know, you got a digital versionof the old and a physical version.
And obviously having the insurancecard helps out.
Yeah.
And, the next thing that I just kind of
want to point out regarding this visitand making it faster is communication.
(02:30):
So one big thing is making sureyou're effectively
communicating what it isthat you need at the time of your visit.
Keep in mind that it's an urgent care.
Typically our time is limited,unfortunately.
So if you're coming in and you have,you know, a couple of symptoms,
you want to make sure you're addressingyour most important symptom.
First, you want tothe one that you want to resolve today.
(02:53):
So if you're coming in with various thingslike a sore throat, but you also have,
you know, your back has been hurtingfor three months,
you might want to address your sore throatfirst and then you can either touch
we can touch on your
your back pain later,or you can come in a couple of days later.
Or we can schedule follow up to kind ofgo more into depth on those symptoms.
(03:14):
And just expanding on what Barbarajust said, about planning ahead.
Like she said, you could come in with manydifferent symptoms or treatment needs.
It could be one.
It could be multiple.
But planning ahead? Definitely. How?
Because that keeps the process efficient.
That helps the provider plan aheadand save you time.
That brings a good example of a patientthat came in
(03:36):
actually this patientand Barbara can expand more on that.
She, wanted to be seen in 45 minutesduring her lunch break.
The best thing she could have doneis she called us
around 11, that, hey,can you accommodate my need?
I have to be seen.
I have, such and such, concerns,but I only have 45 minutes
(03:57):
because she called ahead.
We could plan with her.She could plan with us.
And she was in and out in 45 minutes.
Yeah, absolutely.
It's definitely not something we canaccommodate for every single patient.
But if we know ahead of time,we can let you know what to expect.
If it was something that we couldn't
accommodate at the time of her visit,we would have told her.
(04:17):
Yeah. So transparency.
Like she said, it goes both ways.
If you communicate to us, then it becomesthe, clear communication from both ends.
We know what your expectations areand you know what you can do or not.
For the time you can affordto spend at the urgent care.
And then we can set up a realisticexpectation of when you should come,
(04:38):
how long you can expect to receiveand when you can actually get out.
to make things a little bit fasterfor the patients too.
We make sure we sendall of our prescriptions electronically.
I know that some providers might still dopaper or might call in the prescriptions.
One thing that we like to do
is send over the prescriptionsdirectly to the pharmacy, and making sure
that is also done effectivelyand as fast as we possibly can.
(05:02):
I think, Muhammad,
do you want to go a little bitabout some final tips and what else? Yes.
So everybody knowsit's an urgent care. Right.
So you come in here for a few, Covidtesting or, you have a fever
or you want to do a physical,like a physical
or annual physical, all of those things,we can accommodate that.
(05:23):
But then there is a difference
between us and and, emergency room. Right.
So if you have a chest pain,if you have difficulty breathing
or if you have some kind of a signthat's symptomatic of a stroke,
this would not be the placeyou would be best served
if you immediately contact, an emergency room
(05:44):
or a hospital to get the boxesso you can have some of those.
Absolutely. And feel free to call us.
We can definitely give you some advice.
We can't obviously give you medical adviceover the phone, but if you tell us
what your symptoms are, we can best adviseyou on whether to come in and see us,
or if we think that you would be betterserved at an emergency room.
We do understand emergency roomswait time can be a little bit longer,
(06:06):
but when it comes to an urgent care,there could be some circumstances
where we are limitedto what we can do within our walls.
So definitely costs ahead.
And let us know what your situation is.
If you are unsure about where to go.
To wrap up,I think we want to just talk about,
you know, book onlinebig, big, big help for you.
Bring your ID and your insurance card,make sure you're focused and direct
(06:29):
with your provider.
Tell us upfrontif you're on a time crunch.
Ask if we can,if there's anything we can do
and obviously be open and clearwith your provider.
So communication is key.
And with that note on communication,we'll catch you next time.
Until then, subscribe to urgent Care.
Crystal,this is Mohamed, and would you like,
(06:52):
see you next time.
See you next time.
Thanks so much for tuning in.
And we are at 354Sawmill Road in West Haven.
And come see us anytime you need us.
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