More than 87 percent of St. Andrews Urgent Care Center patients would recommend the facility to family or friends, according to the National Research Corporation (NRC).

That’s about 10 percent higher than the national average, and patient satisfaction has also risen each year since the center opened in 2013, according to the NRC, a company that gathers data to help healthcare facilities track quality and patient satisfaction.

Timothy Fox, MD, LincolnHealth Emergency Department Medical Director, said urgent care patients expect fast and accurate care at a lower cost than they would pay at an emergency department. At the St. Andrews Urgent Care Center, the average wait time is about 14 minutes (although that can rise in the summer) and the average provider has more than a decade of emergency experience.

At St Andrews, they also get a personalized level of service, said Dr. Fox. More than 96 percent of patients report their provider treated them with courtesy and respect, according to the NRC, while 95 percent reported that providers listened carefully. More than 88 percent were comfortable talking to the provider and 88 percent said providers explained things in a way they could understand (all survey results were released May 27 and were for 2016, year to date).

Perhaps the most important metric is the number of patients who choose the St. Andrews Urgent Care Center. Patient volume at the urgent care center has increased more than 16 percent in the past two years compared to the emergency department it replaced, despite the fact that the urgent care center is open half as many hours - 12 hours a day (8 a.m. to 8 p.m.) rather than 24 hours.

One challenge the center faces, however, said Dr. Fox, is that too many patients arrive with symptoms of conditions that should be treated at emergency departments, such as heart attacks or strokes.

Urgent care is medical care without an appointment for conditions that need a doctor’s attention but don’t require specialty care. When patients with heart attack or stroke symptoms go to urgent care centers, the result can be unnecessary delay.

For example, certain medications can greatly reduce stroke damage if they are administered soon after symptoms first appear. Because urgent care centers can’t administer those medications, stroke patients that go to an urgent care center delay their treatment and increase the likelihood of serious damage.

Carol Sharkey, Manager of the St. Andrews Urgent Care Center, said that her staff is committed to providing high quality care but she doesn’t have the specialists and specialized diagnostic equipment needed to treat heart attack or stroke victims.

Symptoms of a stroke include: sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body; sudden confusion or trouble speaking or understanding; sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes; sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination; or a sudden severe headache.

People should call 911 if they think they or a loved one may be experiencing those symptoms, she said.