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At A Walk In Clinic Tampa Residents Can Get Basic Medical Treatment

By Christine Snyder


Medical science has come a long way and many diseases that used to be deadly are now treated successfully. This is of no use, however, to the vast numbers of people that have no medical insurance and that simply cannot afford quality medical treatment. The cost of medical care has skyrocketed and only the rich and the fortunate can afford it. The poor and the disenfranchised have nothing but clinics and when they visit a walk in clinic Tampa patients do not expect advanced treatment.

In the United States there are more than eleven thousands of these clinics scattered across thousands of areas. They are not the result of any coordinated effort and they are not regulated in any way. In many cases, they are run by churches and charities that depend on donations. Many are owned by pharmacies and there are some local councils that also run clinics.

The treatment offered by these clinics differs wildly. Some only deal with emergencies while others concentrate on the treatment of pregnant women and children. Others offer a wider range of services, especially those managed by pharmacies. One thing that they do have in common is that none of them offer advanced medical treatment and none of them can house in patients that need constant care.

Despite the limited services offered by clinics they remain extremely popular. After all, what choice does one have when there is no money to pay a private doctor or hospital. Many patients to these clinics go there because they are not asked any questions about where they come from, whether they have citizenship or what their personal backgrounds are.

Critics admit that these clinics fulfill a very basic need, especially among the poor, but they lament the fact that they offer only very basic services. The large numbers of patients attending the clinics result in very long waiting times and there is never enough staff to cope with the demand. The result is that patients are processed as quickly as possible and this, critics say, inevitably lead to inferior service.

Critics also point out that precious few clinics have a doctor in attendance. Most have to make do with junior nurses and health workers that are not qualified to diagnose any condition or to prescribe medicine. At best they can treat the symptoms described by the patient and this means that the underlying disease causing the symptoms is never treated.

Perhaps one of the biggest worries of critics is the lack of clinics when it comes to keep proper patient medical histories. Their patients are transients so they do not keep records on every patient. This is a huge problem because most physicians depend upon the medical histories of their patients in order to make intelligent decisions about a treatment regime. If there is no history, the treatment may actually endanger the patient.

They may be under resourced and they may only be able to provide very basic care, but these clinics do help a lot of people and they alleviate a lot of suffering. Their patients are normally destitute and have no other options. One hopes that primary health care will become a bigger priority in the future.




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