Proposal talk:Urgent care

Also see Key:walk-in

I believe this same concept has been proposed at https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:walk-in - which uses the Canadian terminology. It would be good to check what they call this in Britain, since OpenStreetMap normally uses British English (Unfortunately, I'm an American). --Jeisenbe (talk) 06:19, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

Seems they call it urgent care, too. Plus, Key:walk-in has, what, 16 uses? This one already has 292 at last check, so it makes more sense. Also, I also sometimes call it "walk-in", but that meaning is more ambiguous, in my opinion. UPDATE: I literally gave a link to "UK (University of Kentucky)". But, it does seem, after REAL further researching, that they call it both, just as in America. --Floridaeditor (talk) 10:37, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

The term "urgent care" is somewhat less specific than "walk-in" in some contexts. While "walk-in" implies that you can literally walk off the street, into the office, and get seen by a physician within the next few hours, "urgent care" might require you to call ahead, a few hours before the appointment. (comment from Jeisenbe at 14:49 UTC, 5 April 2020)

As one of the main taggers of walk-in=*, I'm happy to switch to this tag if it is approved by community. Though regarding use counts, I would note that from a cursory check most uses of urgent_care were added by one editor all around the USA (albeit over past couple of years), rather than several people independently deciding to use this tag. --Jarek Piórkowski (talk) 15:20, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

Wow, I didn't realize that. Thanks. --Floridaeditor (talk) 15:34, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

Walk-in is a different concept than urgent-care. For example urgent see more complex cases than a typical walk-in clinic, Urgent-care facilities prioritize by the most critical patient while walk-ins typically are first come first served.These are just some of the differences I'm aware of Glassman (talk) 00:40, 20 April 2020 (UTC)

Definition of "urgent care"?

What is the definition of "urgent care" here? Do you need to be able to literally walk in to the doctor's office or clinic and be seen right away? What if you call ahead and get an appointment for that afternoon, or a few hours later? The wikipedia page suggests that this term is not very well defined: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walk-in_clinic and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urgent_care_center. Also see the UK term Urgen Treatment Centre: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urgent_treatment_centre --Jeisenbe (talk) 06:26, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

The clinic near me provides appointments and urgent care. Also, in Florida, those terms are interchangeable, so I didn't even think of ambiguity. Adding to the description. --Floridaeditor (talk) 10:42, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

The description of the tag needs to be very clear, so that mappers in other countries, who speak other languages, will be able to translate it into their language and culture without any misunderstandings. For example, I'm an American physician who lives in Indonesia - I know what an "Urgent Care Clinic" is in the USA, but I need to be able to translate the concept clearly into Indonesian language and culture. So, what is the definition that you think will work for this tag?

My clinic in Oregon did not accept literal "walk-in" patients, normally, but we always had same-day appointments: you could call in the morning to get seen that day, or call in the afternoon for an evening appointment. Should that be considered "urgent_care=yes" or "urgent_care=no"? --Jeisenbe (talk) 14:49, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

Honestly, IMO, that would be urgent_care=no, because you need an appointment. Urgent care means more "you don't need an appointment". Thank you for the feedback. --Floridaeditor (talk) 14:59, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

This seems to cover things I'd consider urgent and things I'd consider trivial. The minor injuries unit at my local integrated care centre is for things that are urgent but not emergencies (burns, cuts, head stuck in saucepan, etc.) Getting a flu jab at a pharmacy isn't urgent (you don't need it right now, it just happens to be convenient). If you define this tag to cover both urgent things (minor injury treatment) and non-urgent things (walk in for a flu jab) then I will vote against it. Use walk_in for flu jabs and urgent_care for treatment of minor injuries. --Brian de Ford (talk) 15:22, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

Okay, thank you. Changing... --Floridaeditor (talk) 15:35, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

Some European and German view

In Germany, as far as I know, clinics least offer either walk-in or urgent-care, because they are normally specialized amenities for particular surgeries. Sometimes an association of doctors and sometimes part of a hospital. So their service normally is on appointment. --Chris2map (talk) 16:05, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

I would agree @Brian_de_Ford on making a difference between walk-in and urgent care. IMO walk-in rather is clear and could be understood worldwide than urgent care. This appears to me being more country specific. Apparently it is a general term for instance in Nothern America. For me in Germany it is unknown. I'm familiar with either the term ambulant or emergency for such services. Therefore I'm fine with walk-in, for now not so with urgent_care due to internationalization. Perhaps a combination of the keys (see my new supplement below). However if urgent care is such a way a general term and use in the US ( Urgent_care_center ), it might be self-evident to use it. Maybe I'll become familiar with it further on. --Chris2map (talk) 20:08, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

In the UK, as far as I see in internet, urgent care seems to be a common term with medical services, centres and hospitals . Another term is integrated care. --Chris2map (talk) 20:42, 9 April 2020 (UTC)

In the UK, major hospitals have A&E (accident and emergency) units, normally you are taken there by ambulance (if you can walk in under your own power it's probably not an emergency). Minor hospitals have Minor Injury Units, which I would class under urgent care: you usually get there under your own power, no appointment needed. Integrated care is a completely different thing: it is a facility that essentially functions as a minor hospital but with some extra functions (and often does not have inpatient beds). My local hospital was replaced by an integrated care centre which includes a doctors' surgery, dentist, X-ray unit, outpatients unit for things like physiotherapy, social workers and a minor injuries unit. The minor injuries unit handles urgent care and is walk-in, the other things require appointments. --Brian de Ford (talk) 15:17, 18 April 2020 (UTC)

In Ireland it looks to be quiet similar to the UK. With urgent care they differentiate between Assessment Units (Acute Medical Units), Injury Units, Emergency Departments.

Use with mapping

I guess how to implement it valuable. The way of operating of an amenity depends mainly on its specialization / discipline. E.g. a family doctor works by walk-in, a dentist by appointment (at least in Germany). But if you walk in a dentist with pain you'll be treated (sometime). In a similar way it is in hospital. Common sickness is treated ambulant, special surgery by appointment. More interesting would be to record the surgery hours. Though it's extensive to map and keep. IMO the more important key is emergency=*. The more so as not any emergency is life-threatening but urgent. So I would think about adding surgery_hours and extending values for emergency or use emergency=yes. Cheers --Chris2map (talk) 13:04, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

Yes, but emergency=* is normally for surgeries, and urgent_care=* is more for places less than hospital, not for emergencies. Also, not all family doctors are walk-in in America. --Floridaeditor (talk) 15:12, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

OK, tricky! What about care=walk-in, care=urgent, care=appointment, care=visit, care=phone, care=online, etc. -- Chris2map (talk) 16:17, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

That's not too bad, but IMO, walk-in and urgent are the same (why would you go to a walk-in doctor, rather than make an appointment, if it's NOT urgent?), and urgent_care=no covers appointment and visit. Online and phone are rarely offered at real-location clinics, so would not be tagged here. That's just my opinion. --Floridaeditor (talk) 17:41, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

Many people I guess go to the doctor or to hospital if it's urgent only (mostly so do I). So they want to walk in and get urgent care. Sure, that's not the basis for tagging, but that makes it hard to interpret the tag for users IMO. – The differentiation between not urgent, urgent and emergency is quiet difficult and subjective, I mean. – So for now I tend a bit more to using the key walk-in cause it's clear. I don't want to annoy, but I think of walk-in=yes (implies urgent cases), walk-in=urgent_care (only on urgent cases), walk-in=no (only on appointment, no urgent care), walk-in=only (no appointments, but normal and urgent care). See also above. --Chris2map (talk) 20:08, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

Re: "why would you go to a walk-in doctor, rather than make an appointment, if it's NOT urgent?" - In cultures where appointments are not common, many clinics only offer walk-in appointments. I've visited clinics in Indonesia, Costa Rica, and California where you show up first thing in the morning and then wait around to be seen by the doctor sometime during the day. This is common in cultures where people do not have phones or clocks. --Jeisenbe (talk) 23:28, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

Regarding walk-in and urgent are the same (why would you go to a walk-in doctor, rather than make an appointment, if it's NOT urgent?) You might go to a walk-in clinic for a non-urgent situation that nevertheless needs medical supervision. These might depend on the region and the system - prescriptions for hormonal birth control medication are one example in Ontario: if you don't have a family doctor you are registered with, to get this prescription you go to a walk-in clinic. You can make an appointment at the walk-in clinic, but they're frequently not very accurate so people might not bother. --Jarek Piórkowski (talk) 12:55, 6 April 2020 (UTC)

Re: Voting process

Please see Proposal_process#Proposed and Proposal_process#Voting. After finishing the whole page with a clear description of the tag and how it should be used, please send an email to the Tagging mailing list, as described. Then wait 2 weeks at least for discussion, address any comments or concerns, prior to opening the 2 week minimum voting period. --Jeisenbe (talk) 14:42, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

Sources

External links of references