A nurse practitioner believes urgent cares may actually be extremely dangerous and took to TikTok to “spill the tea.”
In a viral video that has racked up over 146,000 views as of Monday morning, user LadyLindsey (@lindseyarnp) issued her PSA, hoping that it would go viral.
“Urget care are becoming the most dangerous place in the US healthcare system,” she began in the clip. “And I’m about to tell you why.”
Nurse practitioner warns against urgent care centers
The woman, who said she is a nurse practitioner who has been in the field for about a decade, then describes a policy change at urgent care centers which she thinks are detrimental to patients.
Prior to the change, healthcare workers could send patients who appeared to need emergency assistance right to the hospital where they could get the care they needed.
“But instead, this policy binds a practitioner’s hands,” she says.
The policy dictates that all patients who enter the emergent care must be checked in, triaged, and seen by a nurse or doctor, before they are sent to the ER.
In instances where the provider has already assessed the patient needs an ER, they must still follow those procedures, which could possible delay a patient’s access to life saving care.
“The problem is, this patient could sitting there waiting for 30, 40, 50 minutes or longer because that provider may be with another patient,” the woman explained.
@lindseyarnp Urgent Care looking real shady right now… #medicine #nursesoftiktok #fypシ゚viral ♬ original sound – LadyLindsey
In that waiting period, anything could happen.
“The clock is ticking and this patient is literally losing minutes on what is the difference between life and death,” she continues. “And good outcomes and bad outcomes.”
The nurse blames “corporate greed” for the changes and the fact that administrators and healthcare business leaders care more about money than patients.
Americans are relying on urgent care centers
These serious allegations come at a time when urgent care facilities are more popular than ever.
According to CNN, urgent cares have surged due to pressures on the primary care system and the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. The increase of insured patients meant that more health care providers were needed.
However, many warned that more urgent cares could disrupt the healthcare system in a negative way. Some feared that far too many would depend on urgent cares instead of having a primary care doctor. Research also found that they contributed to an overall increase in net spending on healthcare.
In the video’s comments section, many lamented that the US healthcare system is “broken.”
“Our medical system is broken,” one user commented.
Other healthcare workers also confirmed they have received similar marching orders.
“Fellow NP here,” another wrote. “I was told the same thing but I protect the patient and my license.”
Patients also reported receiving the kind of care described by the nurse practitioner.
“This happened to me in 2014 when i was vomiting blood,” one commenter wrote. “Sat, waited, got charged for urgent care, got told to go to ER. Got charged for that too.”
“I hate going to the ER as a Chronically Ill patient,” a second user said. “So the other day I went to Urgent Care and they sent me to the ER. ER doc said “You’re way to complicated for Urgent Care come straight here.”
The Daily Dot reached out to TikTok user LadyLindsey via TikTok comment and direct message.
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