[Talk-us] When is your doctor a clinic?

[Brian Stromberg]

When I hear “clinic” in reference to a healthcare facility, I think of
“urgent care” clinics, and I think there are about six urgent care clinics
within a 20 minute drive of my local hospital. These are usually staffed
with nurses and Physicians Assistants rather than MDs. It’s pretty common
in the US for people to use these rather than the local emergency room, or
even in lieu of a primary care doctor. Having them on OSM seems important
if people need immediate care that doesn’t rise to the level of a hospital
visit. For example, I took my mother to one near me when she had a fall (at
her request, I might have preferred an actual hospital, but it wasn’t a
great time to argue...). They often serve you faster and there is less
administrative processing involved.

Just wanted to share an American perspective.

On Fri, Jan 24, 2020 at 7:56 AM Philip Barnes <phil at trigpoint.me.uk> wrote:

> On Fri, 2020-01-24 at 00:51 +0100, Frederik Ramm wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > On 1/23/20 22:42, Paul Johnson wrote:
> > > There may be a disconnect with what the US (or that spammer)
> > > means.
> > > Could I get a clarification on the difference between "doctors" and
> > > "clinic" as you understand it?
> >
> > Personally (and in my country - Germany) there's precious little I
> > would
> > tag as a clinic; in everyday language we use the (german version of)
> > the
> > word clinic more or less synonymous with "hospital", with the
> > possible
> > exception that we'd also apply clinic to something that deals
> > exclusively with non-illness-related things like e.g. a beauty clinic
> > or
> > a drug rehab clinic. In my language, a clinic would always be
> > something
> > where you can (and usually do) have a bed and stay for longer until
> > the
> > treatment is over. A building with a couple of different medical
> > practitioners might be a "Gemeinschaftspraxis" ("shared practice") or
> > perhaps an "Ärztehaus" (doctors' house) but not a "Klinik". Then
> > again
> > these would hardly ever be open 24/7...
> >
> > I'm not trying to apply my understanding of medical establishments to
> > the US - just asking what the general understanding is on your side
> > of
> > the pond. Does Jmapb's distinction sound more or less ok for others
> > too?
> > He wrote:
> >
> Even in the UK, where OSM originated, clinics are quite rare.
>
> A clinic is where outpatients go, usually referred by their doctor to
> see a specialist.
>
> The on the ground reality is that most clinics take place within
> hospitals.
>
> Standalone clinics do exist, there is one in my town, but will tend not
> to exist in larger towns or cities which have hospitals.
>
> HTH
> Phil (trigpoint)
>
>
>
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-- 
--
Brian
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