When patients come into urgent care, it is typically because they have a significant medical need that’s not life-threatening enough to go to an emergency room. ERs, private practices, and clinics also offer doctors’ notes, but most come from urgent care. Patients who ask for these forms are generally adults or teenagers who are ill or injured and missing work or the parents of children who miss school. These patients need documentation from their doctor or another medical professional who sees them to show that they went to the hospital and their condition was serious enough to warrant the visit. Having a simple preformatted urgent care doctor’s note template filled out can mean the difference between continued employment and an unwell person getting fired.
An urgent care doctor’s note template will help you write notes for your patients more quickly and efficiently. Our professional forms are fast and easy-to-use documents that can minimize wasted time and help you get back to helping people. Employers and schools in the US have the right to ask for a doctor’s note to verify the claim that the person was sick or hurt. These documents show that an employee or student was taking necessary steps to handle a real medical problem, and requiring them is standard practice.
What Is an Urgent Care Doctors Note Template?
An urgent care doctor’s note template is a reusable form for medical professionals whose patients must show their employers or schools that they were absent without notice for a legitimate medical reason. Additionally, these forms often include instructions for additional days off to heal or requirements such as ‘Patient cannot lift anything over their head for the next 4 weeks.’ Most of these documents come directly from urgent care or an emergency room since the problems are often sudden, like a broken leg. A doctor usually signs these documents, but any medical professional who has seen and diagnosed the patient can issue an urgent care doctor’s note. Having a template to fill out helps streamline the process.
Essential Elements of an Urgent Care Doctors Note Template
An urgent care doctor’s note has relatively few essential elements. Because of doctor-patient confidentiality, you cannot include details of your patient’s injuries or illnesses. Fortunately, this means that filling out these simple forms is quick and easy. Below we’ve listed all the essential elements in the order they appear on the page.
- Title- A title states that it is an urgent care doctor’s note. This should always be in large, boldface print at the top of the page to show what the form is for.
- Urgent Care Information- The name and contact information for the urgent care center should always be at the top.
- Doctor or Medical Professional Information- Make sure that your form clearly shows who saw the patient so companies can contact them if they wish to verify the note.
- Recommended or Required Limitations- This is where you would include any requirements like ‘patient cannot walk for 2 weeks and should elevate their left foot,’ or ‘patient cannot lift more than 10 lbs for the next 2 months.’ This is critical for employees who may need to adjust their duties accordingly. Many companies can offer temporary alternatives so the employee can still work, but without doing anything to exacerbate an injury or other medical issue.
- Absence- Add a statement at the end that says the patient missed work today for an urgent care doctor’s visit, and include any necessary information about future missed work. For example, this might consist of a statement like ‘the patient should remain at home for two weeks.’
- Signatures- At the bottom of the page, print the name of the medical professional who saw the patient, then sign the form with a black or blue ink pen.
- The Date- This shows when the patient came in and is essential, especially in cases requiring additional downtime.
When You Need and When You Don’t Need an Urgent Care Doctors Note
While urgent care doctor’s notes are incredibly common, you don’t need one all the time. If you get sick while on vacation and don’t miss any regularly scheduled work, or if you have a minor injury that doesn’t affect your performance, there is no reason to go to urgent care for a doctor’s note.
When You Need an Urgent Care Doctor’s Note
As a general rule, you need an urgent care doctor’s note anytime you are going to miss your scheduled work or school day. Likewise, you may need a doctor’s note if you get injured on the job. Below is a quick list of all the times you need to go to urgent care and get a note after you are seen.
- A child or college student is missing school for injury or illness
- An adult who is hurt on the job
- An adult that is sick or injured outside of work when they are expected to show up
- An adult who is injured on the job and needs to miss part of a day or satisfy their employers’ insurance needs to show they are well enough to work.
- An adult who is injured on the job and plans to take workman’s compensation
When You Don’t Need an Urgent Care Doctor’s Note
Sometimes you do not need a note from your urgent care doctor, even if you have to go in. Generally, these notes are only necessary when an employer or school requires them. It’s wise to read your company or school policies so you know in advance if you need the note.
- Your employer doesn’t require it. Some businesses do not ask for doctor’s notes and believe their employees should take time off as needed, without oversight or additional requirements.
- When a school doesn’t require it
- You don’t need a note if you have already claimed FMLA time off. The Family Medical Leave Act is protected, unpaid time off anyone can claim, and the act does not have any wording that states you must ‘prove it’ by providing medical documentation. This is likely because you can use the family medical leave act for many reasons. Not all of these are personal illnesses or injuries. For example, you can also use the FMLA when caring for a family member. To better understand the FMLA and how it applies, you can check the FMLA website here (https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fmla).
- When you take paid or unpaid time off with permission
- On your days off, typically weekends, if you will be able to attend work or school and normally perform without accommodation (aka you are not too sick or injured to do the same things you do every day)
- If you are not ill or hurt and are missing work for other non-medical reasons like a funeral or court date, you cannot get a note from a doctor
- When you are the parent of a child who is sick or hurt, you do not need to show a note saying you were the one who was in the urgent care
Does a Doctor Have To Sign an Urgent Care Doctors Note for Work?
Before going to urgent care for a medical issue requiring a note for work, patients should call ahead and ask what the center’s policy is. While most urgent care centers will issue a doctor’s note for any employee who needs it, no law requires them. Moreover, as a medical professional, if you don’t find anything wrong or don’t feel it warranted a trip during work hours, you can refuse to issue an urgent care doctor’s note. This helps medical providers avoid unnecessary paperwork and deters those rare people who merely seek an excuse to avoid their job for the day.
Do Doctors Issue Urgent Care Notes for Mental Health?
Mental health crises are legitimate concerns, and an urgent care doctor can sign a note for any actual and urgent condition you come in for. A panic or anxiety attack that remains uncontrolled for too long can cause tachycardia, a problem with the heart where it pumps so fast that it’s no longer getting blood where it needs to go in the body. However, urgent care doctors can only help stabilize the condition and pass a patient on to mental health professionals who can better diagnose and treat them. Additionally, urgent care doctors cannot prescribe certain types of medication, including most psych meds. Doing that is a specialized skill set.
FAQs
Urgent care doctor’s notes are incredibly common, and tens of thousands are given out daily in centers across the US. Below we’ve answered all the most common frequently asked questions about these essential documents.
What happens when you fake an urgent care doctor’s note depends on the outcome in court. However, it is illegal, so you will likely face a judge. The penalties range from being found innocent and having the case on your record to fines and jail time. Like other forms of the official documentation, forging a doctor’s signature, whether a doctor is a real person or you make one up, is illegal because it takes years of education and a license to practice medicine and offer diagnoses.
You can give a company direct permission to call your doctor to verify your note, and doing so is a wise decision since it will make the process easier for everyone and shows that you are sincere. However, a company can also call without explicit permission. The patient-doctor confidentiality remains in place. They cannot give medical details without your permission. Still, they can and will verify that you came in and that the doctor issued you a note to reflect the diagnosis, which includes visiting them that day, and possibly more time off work if the doctor deems it a medical necessity.
You can get fired for being sick even with an urgent care doctor’s note. Because most states have ‘at-will’ employment, employers and employees can terminate the arrangement at any time without giving a reason. FMLA, the Family Medical Leave Act, offers employees some protection, but if you do not invoke it before the employer fires you, it doesn’t apply to your situation. The FMLA provides 12 weeks of protected unpaid annual leave for qualified employees. That said, it is a fairly common practice for employers to find a different reason to dismiss employees who take too much time off.
To have a valid urgent care note, you must go to the doctor on the day you have the problem and present them with a real medical issue. Unfortunately, nonspecific issues and people merely seeking a day off work will quickly discover that they may not receive a doctor’s excuse. If there is no medical reason for you to miss work or school, the doctor can and often does refuse to issue a note.
You cannot get a doctor’s note without being seen. That said, some services don’t require you to go in personally. With the rise of covid and telemedicine, you may be able to see a doctor over the phone or on a video call from the comfort of your home. Many of these services provide doctor’s notes if the doctor feels the visit was warranted.
No law requires an employer to ask their employees to submit an urgent care doctor’s note. However, your company policy or insurance may require that you ask for these notes as soon as a person is injured at work or absent, in which case you should follow the policy. You can request a note if you believe the employee is skipping work for non-medical reasons while claiming they are ill or injured. Additionally, you should ask an employee for an urgent care doctor’s note if they failed to call or show up as scheduled or after three or more consecutive days of unscheduled absence, even when they’ve called in.
Final Thoughts
As a medical care provider in urgent care, you will likely sign hundreds, if not thousands, of doctor’s notes for your patients. These forms are critical for their continued employment or schooling. A professionally created template will reduce wasted time and help you process your patients faster. Moreover, it can help ensure that you don’t accidentally put down too little information for the note to be considered valid or too much information, violating doctor-patient confidentiality. Downloading and using our professionally created Urgent Care Doctor’s Note Template is the fastest and easiest way to create the documents you need every day.
