Urgent care centers, like Urgent Care Oswego, provide a new alternative to hospital emergency rooms, with the Urgent Care Association of America reporting that there are now over an estimated 15,000 urgent care centers throughout the United States of America. The reason that more patients are choosing to go with immediate care facilities over traditional hospital emergency departments is that immediate care centers tend to be much more affordable and offer the same professional diagnosis and treatment, delivered by a medical doctor, for medical conditions requiring immediate care but that do not necessitate admission to a hospital (i.e. conditions that are not immediately life-threatening). Urgent Care Oswego, and other urgent care centers, provide ambulatory care to patients, all on a convenient schedule of hours and days of the week, for even those unplanned visits. Ambulatory care refers to a variety of treated conditions and procedures, such as blood tests.
Wikipedia defines a blood test as “a laboratory analysis performed on a blood sample that is usually extracted from a vein in the arm using a needle, or via finger prick.” These tests are then used to determine biochemical and physiological states of being, like disease, organ function, mineral content, and drug effectiveness, as well as being employed for drug tests. Although blood tests is generally the term used, many common tests are actually performed by making use of plasma or serum, versus the blood cells themselves. Venipuncture, or the procedure to take a sample of blood from a vein, is non-invasive and has became a routine part of medical exams, since blood flows throughout the body and is affected by a large number of medical conditions, making them easier to diagnose. Phlebotomists (or qualified technicians who draw blood), nurses, and laboratory technicians generally extract blood from patients; however, physicians or paramedics may be charged with the task, particularly during an emergency situation. Blood samples are then analyzed by a medical laboratory to make a diagnosis.
