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If you consider that nearly half of US adults have some form of cardiovascular disease, it should come as no surprise that cardiac events are common.
Although the image that pops into your head might be one of a person clutching their chest and having a heart attack, cardiac events aren't always life-threatening, but they still require care sooner rather than later.
For just those times, board-certified cardiologist, Dr. Satjit Bhusri and the team at Upper East Side Cardiology offer cardiac urgent care. Let’s take a look.
Urgent versus emergency care
More and more urgent care centers are opening up to offer a better alternative to busy emergency rooms (ERs). This same concept is what guides us.
Our cardiac urgent care is designed for non-life-threatening issues, which includes symptoms like:
- Mild chest pain or tightness
- Shortness of breath, but not gasping for air
- Heart palpitations
- Wheezing
- Feeling dizzy or lightheaded, but not losing consciousness
- Fatigue for no reason
Think of these symptoms as a step down from a true emergency in which you feel like your life is in danger, such as having severe chest pain or difficulty breathing.
Urgent care for chronic heart disease
One of the reasons why we set up our cardiac urgent care is to provide patients who have chronic heart and cardiovascular disease an alternative to the ER.
Examples of these conditions include:
- Heart failure, which affects nearly 7 million Americans
- Atrial fibrillation (AFib), which affects one in 22 Americans
- Coronary artery disease, which affects one in 20 American adults
- Stroke and heart attack survivors
For patients who have a history of these conditions, we want to make sure that they have access to prompt care should an issue out of the ordinary arise.
For example, perhaps you have AFib and the arrhythmia is really flaring or maybe you develop some new and concerning symptoms that you think might be related to your heart failure. For these issues, you can avail yourself of our cardiac urgent care rather than heading to an impersonal ER.
Advantages of our cardiac urgent care
There are several advantages of our cardiac urgent care that we want to highlight here, such as:
Comprehensive testing and lab services
Our practice is equipped with the same diagnostic imaging as most ERs, including echocardiograms and electrocardiograms. As well, we can conduct blood tests and other lab tests.
A calmer, more efficient atmosphere
If you’ve ever been to an ER, especially in New York City, you know that they can be busier than Penn Station at rush hour and wait times can be long. With our cardiac urgent care, you become our priority as we offer personalized and prompt care.
Familiarity with patient history
Another great benefit of our cardiac urgent care is that we often have important background information on our patients that can help guide us.
We also want to assure you that, should we find that your cardiac event is an emergency and that you need care in a hospital setting, we will arrange to transfer you right away.
The only drawback of our cardiac care is that we’re only able to offer it during our business hours — M-F, 7am to 7pm — so if you’re having an event outside those hours, you will need to head to your local ER.
If you have more questions about our cardiac urgent care services, please don’t hesitate to call our New York City office on the Upper East Side of Manhattan at 212-752-3464. You can also request information online by clicking here.