10 Things You Didn't Know About the UR

There is more than what meets the eye when you come to The Urgency Room. We thought we would create a post for the things you might not know about the UR!

1. Our radiology technicians come from St. Paul Radiology. The wonderful people at the UR take your x-rays and ultrasounds are actually employees of St. Paul Radiology. We who were so impressed with their skills that we wanted to collaborate!

2. Every UR has a candy drawer. The UR and it's employees contribute to the candy drawer to keep it well stocked. When that occasional chocolate craving hits, we are ready!

3. The average patient visit is 90 minutes or less. No matter how serious this injury or illness the UR averages a 90 minute or less from door to discharge. We think that is pretty impressive!
                                            

4. Our staff shares meals on holidays. Even when our employees are working to take care of patients on the holidays, they still get to enjoy a holiday meal with their UR family.

5. We have access to local clinics medical records. With your permission, we can access your electronic medical records from your primary care provider. In addition, your records can then be electronically sent from the UR to your regular doctor for review or follow up care.

6. We have COWs at the UR. Well maybe not actual cows, but we have Computers On Wheels. We have scribes at the UR who go room to room with a doctor and document the visit. The scribes use COWs to make the documentation process more efficient for the patient and provider.
                                                              

7. Woodbury is the only one of our three locations that was created from an existing building and was once a video rental store. After gutting out the building we were able to turn the old video store into a state of the art medical facility. We bet the original builders would have never imagined it was going to become a free standing emergency room!

8. Between the three URs, we go through almost 450 bottles of water per month. The URs have a drink fridge at each location for our ill patients. Though we stock juice, sports drinks and lemon lime soda, water is the number one beverage we go through.

9. The UR has its own YouTube Channel!  You can find our board-certified emergency physicians on YouTube providing educational information on some of the most common things we see at the UR.  Some of our videos have almost 100,000 views!

10. The physicians, PAs and NPs that staff our Urgency Rooms also work in the ERs of 5 of our main Twin Cities hospitals.  You could see your doctor at the UR or working in the ER of Mercy, Unity, Southdale, Ridges and Methodist hospitals.  Needless to say you are in very capable hands during your visit to the UR. We only hire the best and the brightest!

Changing Seasons and an Emergency Care Clinic

There are so many great things about the changing of the seasons! If you are transitioning from summer to fall, you have the stunning array of colors of nature. Or from winter to spring, it seems the world lights up with the bright bold colors of the spring flowers! There is so much to look forward to when the seasons are changing. Of course, with the good comes the bad, and that is very true when talking about the changing of the seasons.

Most of us know our bodies and we know what happens when the weather takes a turn, we get sick. Sometimes that is just a simple as seasonal allergies but it could also become as severe as a sore throat that doesn’t want to go away. When life has you down there is nothing more you want than to be feeling better to enjoying the new weather! For those ups and downs in the weather, you should consider seeing an emergency care clinic.

Emergency care clinics are prepared to deal with the changing of the seasons. They are ready to handle the basics such as allergies and asthma to the more intense medical situations like flu and respiratory symptoms. The best thing to do when you are feeling under the weather is to attack your symptoms in the bud and seek medical attention right away. You do not want something that could be as easily fixed in the early stages become something that keeps you indoors for weeks!

Dehydration and Emergency Care Clinics

When we are outside enjoying all that nature has to offer, playing games or doing sports, we may forget one important factor to all of this outside fun; water. Water is a vital part of working outside. That is anything from doing yardwork to physical activity, water helps you stay hydrated. When you are exerting force and sweating you are losing vital nutrients that you need to stay hydrated and if you do not intake enough water to replace those that are lost, you can become dehydrated.

There is more to being dehydrated than just the feeling of being thirsty; there are serious medical issues that could arise when one becomes dehydrated. If in the event of a severe case of dehydration one would need to seek an emergency care clinic like The Urgency Room to have symptoms evaluated and possibly have fluids replenished. The rule of thumb to remember when you are working outside is to drink double what you normally would, especially if you are partaking in physical activity. This is true for days when you cannot beat the heat; you will be sweating more and losing more. Stay hydrated this summer by always having cold water within arm’s reach; remember if you are thirsty you are already dehydrated! For more information from The Urgency Room visit our website for after care instruction related to dehydration.