Sunday, May 09, 2010

Things They Should Invent: 24-hour walk-in clinics next door to all emergency rooms

This article, which is ultimately about many other things, starts with the author wondering why people bring their kids to the Emergency room rather than to a walk-in clinic.

Solution: have a walk-in clinic right there. In the hospital. Next door to the emergency room. It doesn't have to be part of the hospital administratively, it could be a storefront inside the hospital building (like how there's often a coffee shop and a florist's). Then whenever someone comes into the emergency room with a non-emergency, the triage nurse can just re-direct them to the walk-in clinic, where they'll get treated faster.

2 comments:

laura k said...

Are there 24/7 walk-in clinics? In Mississauga, there are walk-in clinics right near the hospitals, and also "urgent care" facilities that are somwhere between walk-ins and emergency rooms. But only the ER is open 24 hrs.

impudent strumpet said...

I don't know, but there should be.