A doctor’s experience with those “doc-in-a-box” clinics

Even if you can’t see your doctor right away, it’s best to steer clear of those “doc-in-a-box” clinics. Unless you really need urgent care, you’re better off waiting to see a real doctor.

And this advice is (sort of) coming from a physician.

He was attending a conference on antibiotic resistance — the deadly threat caused by prescribing too many antibiotics that creates killer strains of bacteria.

The day after the seminar, he woke up with a sore throat and was worried that it was a strep infection. (See, even doctors can overthink their health!)

So he headed over to one of those urgent care places, you know, where you only have to wait 2 hours instead of 5 at the ER.

Now, his throat culture turned out fine, no strep, but the box doc insisted on giving him an Rx for an antibiotic anyway. There’s a lot “going around town” he was told.

And remember…he was at a conference on antibiotic resistance!

So surely he knew better, but he took the prescription anyway.

And afterward, as he considered not filling the prescription, he worried he would be “tagged” as a “non-adherent patient.” Horrors!

But this doctor-turned-patient let the cat out of the bag about the real reason these clinics do what they do.

Turns out there are big financial incentives and “a higher clinic charge” when they dish out antibiotics and other drugs at these places.

So unless you need stitches or something to stop the bleeding, steer clear of the one-diagnosis-fits-all corner clinics.

Sources:
“How I was prescribed an unnecessary antibiotic while traveling to a conference on antibiotic resistance” Kevin T. Kavanagh, MD, August 4, 2014, JAMA Internal Medicine, archinte.jamanetwork.com