I spilled boiling hot water on my chest and was in excruciating pain so my husband called around and we thought this urgent care would be the perfect place to go. They make you pay the flat rate fee upfront which was strange to me at the time, but I was in so much pain I didn't care. Looking back at it now this was a huge red flag. We get called back almost immediately which was probably the only good thing about this place and we had the lady at the front desk start taking my vitals and what not. Then the nurse practitioner (not a doctor, this is important) comes in and looks at my burn. At this point I'm in so much pain I'm bawling and she looks at me and says "well it looks fine and you're doing everything you can". Now I know basic first aid, but I'm no medical professional and clearly this lady wasn't either because she didn't clean the wound or actually get a good enough look at it to determine much about it. She took off the dressing I put on myself put burn gel on top of a now not so sterile wound (because she did not clean it) and basically tried to send me on my way. I'm in so much pain at this point I can't stop crying so my husband steps in to ask if she can prescribe me anything for pain management so I can at-least get some sleep since I had not slept in a couple days since the accident happened. This woman looked at me and said, "yeah I can but it most likely won't get filled because I'm not a doctor I'm a nurse practitioner". Okay... now I get some urgent cares don't have doctors on site all the time, but when I call in advance and let you know I'm in excruciating pain because I burned the most sensitive part on my chest with boiling hot water strait off the stove, you should probably mention I CAN'T PRESCRIBE YOU ANYTHING TO HELP WITH THE PAIN! I have been to a few urgent cares in my days and not being able to prescribe someone a medicine is diabolical to me! Like not even a high dosage of ibuprofen?!?! Not to mention on the paper work she gave me was inaccurate.. she got the wrong side of my chest listed and my medicinal allergies weren't listed. I know that's a small thing to add, but come on at-least get my post appointment notes correct. After she told me this non-sense I informed her how unhappy I was with the visit she walked out and we only dealt with the lady at the front desk. I mentioned how ridiculous it was to her as well and she came back with a random prescription for nerve pain? You just told me you couldn't prescribe me anything because it wouldn't get filled? I didn't take my chances and never got the random prescription filled. This "urgent care" is simply out for your money and I would not recommend to anyone!!! Honestly this seems like a scam to me, I came for medical attention and was told my burns were superficial, they were not btw I had second degree burns on the top of my chest.
I ended up going to parkland because they have an amazing burn unit. I was seen by multiple doctors and each were appalled when I told them this story. I also mentioned how she told me my burns were superficial and just wanted validation on that. Turns out I had second degree burns on my chest and was seen by multiple doctors who confirmed this. I was sent home with pain medication and a proper dressing on my chest so my burn can heal correctly. When the nurses who cleaned my wound asked if the urgent care people tried to clean my wound I told them no, and what I mentioned above, they were in utter shock since the top layer of my burn had to quite literally be cleaned off for my burn to begin to heal.
I know this is a lengthy review, but I was truly disappointed with how I was treated here and the lack of compassion I was shown. This incident right here is why I hate going to any medical professional. This woman made me feel like I was going crazy and that maybe she was right, but thank god I decided to go to the ER. Who knows what would have happened to my burn if I didn't get a second opinion. read more