It can be very frustrating to suffer a bone fracture or soft tissue injury after regular business hours or over the weekend. Your first thought may be to just to live with the pain until an orthopaedic doctor’s office is open the next business day, and even once the office opens it might be a few days before you can get an evaluation.
Bone and Joint Institute of Tennessee saw a need in the community for specialized orthopaedic urgent care in various locations close to Williamson County residents, including after-hours and weekend visits. Cameron Greene, a physician assistant at Bone and Joint Institute’s orthopaedic urgent care in Brentwood, shared the benefits the clinics bring to the community on a daily basis and offers some insight on why a visit to orthopaedic urgent care might be necessary.
Common Injuries Orthopaedic Urgent Care Treats
Bone and Joint Institute can treat a variety of orthopaedic injuries at its three orthopaedic urgent care locations in Brentwood, Nolensville and Thompson’s Station. But some of the most common injuries they see include ankle sprains, pulled muscles, shoulder strains, neck and back pain and fractures.
Injuries can be related to a variety of incidents like an acute injury such as a child falling off playground equipment, or a chronic issue like a patient dealing with arthritis. While patients facing chronic conditions often see specialists regularly, they might suddenly experience severe pain or worsening pain that is concerning. Having the opportunity to see a trained provider at urgent care can offer peace of mind or put them back on the path of effective ongoing care with minor adjustments.
Direct Referral to A Specialist
General urgent care facilities will see patients for soft tissue injuries and fractures, as well as any other health issue like sickness, sore throat, fever and other ailments, possibly causing wait times to increase. Patients may get an X-ray at an urgent care clinic to then be referred to an orthopaedic specialist for another evaluation.
At Bone and Joint Institute’s orthopaedic urgent care, their teams have the tools to extensively evaluate and care for a variety of orthopaedic injuries without the need for further referral. But, if a patient needs a referral to a specialist for further evaluation, the urgent care team can make that referral and ensure the patient gets an appointment sooner rather than later.
That’s because the urgent care team is referring to specialists within Bone and Joint Institute. This provides more flexibility than general urgent care providers who refer patients outside their organization and have minimal influence over how “urgent” the referred practice views the injury.
Why Head For Orthopaedic Urgent Care:
Greene recently saw the power of working within one practice in an acute situation. A patient scheduled an appointment online with a specialist due to pain from a previous toe fracture and a new wound on their foot. The patient’s appointment was set for three weeks away. But as the pain got worse, the patient got worried and went to Bone and Joint Institute’s urgent care clinic in Brentwood.
After evaluation, Greene knew the patient needed to see the surgeon sooner, so he worked with schedulers and got the patient an appointment in two days. That ability to escalate and prioritize the most serious cases is crucial to providing the best possible care.
Another benefit is that Bone and Joint Institute has a physical therapy team on site at each orthopaedic care clinic around Williamson County. So once a patient becomes familiar with the facility through their urgent care visit, they can return to the same location to begin physical therapy.
If the therapists have questions for the provider, they can get answers quickly to provide collaborative, high-quality care for every patient. Or if the provider has questions about developing an ideal physical therapy routine for a patient who visits urgent care, they can get immediate responses to guide the patient and provide peace of mind. That all-in-one care is one of the greatest benefits Bone and Joint Institute offers.
Accessibility of Bone and Joint Institute in the Community
With locations throughout Williamson County, Bone and Joint Institute has locations that bring care closer to the patient. Currently, Bone and Joint Institute operates orthopaedic urgent care locations in Brentwood, Nolensville and Thompson’s Station with an After-Hours Clinic at the main location in Franklin on the campus of Williamson Medical Center.
In addition to its various locations in Wilco, Bone and Joint Institute and Williamson Health are the official sports medicine partners of Williamson County Schools. Between Bone and Joint Institute and Williamson Health, athletic trainers, physicians and EMS services are provided at local athletic events with medical teams on the sidelines ready to assist should the need arrive. And should a student-athlete need care at an orthopaedic urgent care clinic, Greene said the team at each location does what it can to communicate with the athlete’s athletic trainers to help devise a return-to-action plan with all parties watching out for the athlete.
To learn more about Bone and Joint Institute’s orthopaedic urgent care and to find a location near you, or to learn more about Bone and Joint Institute’s readiness to care for your orthopaedic condition, visit BoneAndJointTN.org.
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