The 5 Most Common Prescriptions
Urgent care is the place you go when you have an illness or injury that isn’t a life-threatening emergency but requires care within about 24 hours. The doctors provide the same level of service as a hospital’s emergency department, but without the high costs and long wait times. And while urgent care clinics can’t replace your primary care physician, who knows your medical history and all of your ongoing conditions, they’re a great resource when you need help right away but you can’t get hold of your doctor.
At DOCCS Urgent Care in Melbourne, Florida, our expert physicians can handle all manner of illnesses and injuries, and we’re open seven days a week 7am-11pm — well outside normal doctors’ office hours — so that you’re always covered. And, in addition to the personalized care we provide, we have in-house labs, a pharmacy, and radiology services for your convenience.
What conditions do urgent care clinics treat?
Urgent care is the right place to go if you have any of the following:
Cold or flu symptoms
A high fever
Ear infections
Abdominal pain
Vomiting
Diarrhea
Allergic reactions (milder than anaphylactic shock)
Sprains, strains, and fractures
Minor concussions
Difficulty breathing
Cuts, lacerations, or mild burns
Urgent care centers also provide nonemergency treatments including school, sports, or Department of Transportation (DOT) physicals, STD screenings, tetanus boosters, and routine vaccinations.
What if I need a prescription?
While urgent care physicians can’t prescribe all medications, they can prescribe most. If you’re sick and need an antibiotic or an antiviral, or if you’re injured and need short-term pain medication, urgent care has got you covered.
You can also get a one-time prescription if you’ve run out of refills on a management medication but can’t reach your primary care doctor, or if you’re on vacation and have misplaced a medication you need to maintain your overall health. These include prescriptions for blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol drugs.
Because DOCCS has its own pharmacy, you can get your prescription filled before you leave the clinic and can go directly home to rest.
What are the five most common prescriptions at urgent care?
The most common prescriptions fall into five different categories that include:
1. Antibiotics and antivirals
Urgent care facilities like DOCCS see a lot of patients with bacterial infections such as strep throat or urinary tract infections, and they stock a wide range of antibiotics, such as amoxicillin, azithromycin (the Z-pack), and ciprofloxacin (Cipro).
Antivirals are used to treat virus-caused infections, such as the flu (Tamiflu) and many upper respiratory illnesses. These usually work best if they’re started early in the infection, so get to a clinic as soon as the symptoms appear.
2. Short-term pain medications
If you have a broken bone, a wound, or an injury such as a slipped disc, you’ll probably need something to help with the pain. Not all urgent care centers are allowed to prescribe pain medication, but for those like DOCCS that do, you may get an order for a large dose of something like acetaminophen (Tylenol) or ibuprofen (Advil or Alleve).
Urgent care centers are not able to prescribe narcotic or long-term pain management medications since the physicians will not be following the patient’s condition. These drugs are generally prescribed by primary care doctors or pain management specialists who can monitor the patient’s reactions and tolerance over time and can help prevent addiction.
3. One-time maintenance medications
Patients run out of medications all the time, sometimes in the evenings or on the weekends, when their doctor isn’t available to refill them. DOCCS doctors can write for a one-time dose until the patient’s able to make an appointment with their own physician. Some of the most common prescriptions we write are:
Simvastatin (for high cholesterol)
Lisinopril (for blood pressure)
Amlodipine besylate (for angina and blood pressure)
Synthroid (a synthetic hormone)
Metformin (for diabetes)
4. Stomach medications
These medications can be for conditions ranging from diarrhea to constipation to acid reflux, the last of which includes such drugs as Prilosec, Prevacid, and various proton-pump inhibitors. They’re usually prescribed for 30 days or fewer, until the patient can get in to see their primary care doctor or gastrointestinal specialist to diagnose and treat the underlying condition.
5. Asthma and allergy medications
These include various inhalers, which may or may not contain steroids to counteract inflammation, or vasodilators to open airways.
Do you have an urgent medical situation and can’t get in touch with your doctor? Give DOCCS a call at 321-752-7100, book an appointment online, or simply walk in. We’re always here to help.