Family Care
EPIC Urgent & Family Care is a Palatine and Streamwood-based primary care clinic that delivers individualized and personalized care to patients in Chicago’s suburbs. Our Family Medicine clinicians are highly experienced in treating patients with acute illnesses (such as ear infections, bladder infections, acute sinusitis, etc.) and Chronic Illnesses (such as Diabetes, Arthritis, Asthma, etc.). In addition, our family doctors practice a patient-centered preventive care model that encourages people to get physicals, immunizations, and wellness check-ups on a routine basis.
Family care is the medical specialty that is concerned with the total health care of every member of the family. Family medicine integrates the biological, clinical, and behavioral sciences and it isn’t limited by the patient’s age or sex, organ system, or disease entity. We treat adults and children over 3 months of age, with or without insurance.
Family Care Versus General Practice
While family care follows the general practice tradition, it is significantly different from general practice. In addition to receiving broad hospital training, family practice doctors like Dr. Patel receive extensive training in comprehensive and continuous outpatient medicine for patients of all ages. As a specialty, family practice medicine has stringent requirements for continuing medical education, board certification, and board recertification every seven years.
Family Practice Versus Internal Medicine
Historically, internal medicine and family medicine developed out of very different backgrounds. Internal medicine grew from the increasing application of scientific knowledge into the practice of medicine that started in the late 1800s. At the time, this “scientific” approach to medicine was unique and was progressively applied to the wide spectrum of diseases that commonly affect adults. As pediatrics grew into a separate specialty devoted to the care of children in the early 1900s, internal medicine kept its focus on treating adult patients.
As medicine grew more and more specialized through the 1900s, family care emerged out of a general practitioner movement to maintain the doctor-patient relationship and continuity of care for patients. The concept of family medicine is built around the social unit of the family, rather than a particular type of patient, organ system, or medical intervention (such as therapy or surgery) family physicians are therefore trained with the goal of being able to deal with the entire spectrum of medical issues that might be encountered by the members of a family unit.
Family medicine education is broader than internal medicine because it involves training in the care of children and procedures and services often provided by other specialties. This is what makes family physicians like Dr. Patel equipped to deal with a wide range of medical issues. Because of their broad skill set, family physicians typically adapt the nature of their practices to meet the specific medical needs of their community, such as our community here in Palatine.
The Scope of Family Medicine
Family physicians deliver a range of acute, chronic, and preventive medical care services to patients. In addition to diagnosing and treating illness, they also provide preventive care including routine checkups, health-risk assessments, immunization and screening tests, and personalized counseling on maintaining a healthy lifestyle family physicians also manage chronic illness, often coordinating care provided by other subspecialists.
Acute Illness Care Services – Acute Illness is defined as illness that starts suddenly and is short-lived. While some acute illnesses may improve on their own, some patients might need antibiotics or medical treatment.
- Acute sinusitis
- Bladder infection
- Cold
- Ear infection
- Flu syndrome
- Strep throat
Chronic Illness Care Services – Chronic Illness develops slowly, is persistent, and long-lasting. Our physicians will diagnose, monitor, and provide continuity of care. Medications can be prescribed with appropriate counseling and lifestyle changes will be recommended to help patients gain control over their illness.
- Arthritis
- Cardiovascular conditions
- COPD, asthma, or chronic bronchitis
- Diabetes
- Hypertension
- Hyperlipidemia
- Renal or kidney problems
- Rosacea or eczema
- Wart Removal
Preventive Medical Care Services – Preventive care helps avoid chronic illnesses, cancers, and many other conditions. This will avoid unnecessary doctor or emergency room visits, testing, procedures/surgeries, and hospitalization. By doing routine preventive exams/testing, one can remain healthy and enjoy life.
- Annual physicals
- Well-child checkups
- Health-risk assessments
- Immunizations/Vaccines
- Screening tests
- STD & HIV Testing
- Personalized counseling to maintain a healthy lifestyle
Epic Urgent and Family Care serves the following neighborhoods and zip codes for family care.
Neighborhoods we serve: Palatine, Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Inverness, Barrington, South Barrington, Rolling Meadows, Wheeling, Prospect Heights, Deerfield, Mount Prospect, Lake Zurich, Glenview, Vernon Hills, Hoffman Estates, Schaumburg, Elk Grove Village, Downers GroveZIP Codes we serve: 60004, 60074, 60010, 60011, 60005, 60007, 60008, 60015, 60016, 60018, 60025, 60047, 60061, 60062, 60067, 60656, 60089, 60090, 60106, 60107, 60169, 60192, 60193
