Urgent care centers can provide a great deal of medical care all throughout the United States, more than ever before. Nowadays, there are more than 7,000 urgent care locations found throughout the country, as of data that was collected back in the year of 2016. As of the current date, it is more likely than not that this number has only continued to grow and grow. Already up to 20,000 different doctors are employed at urgent care locations throughout the country, serving up to three million different people each and every week.
Urgent care clinics, after all, can meet a wide array of medical needs. For one thing, your nearest urgent care location is likely to be able to provide you with an array of preventative medical care. Getting your flu shot, for instance, is something that you can do at the average walk in urgent care center. And getting our flu shots is very important indeed, as sometimes up to one fifth of the population will be impacted by the flu, and 5% at the very, very least (during an incredibly mild flu season). In fact, an estimated 20 million people visited the doctor for flu related issues in the last flu season alone, a number that, during some years, is even higher.
Some people might eschew their flu shot because it’s never 100% effective. However, this is not the right approach to take, as some protection is far better than none at all. In fact, the flu shot is quite effective overall at reducing the rate at which the flu spreads throughout the country. The 2018-2019 flu season saw up to 48% fewer flu cases among adults than what would have otherwise expected. And among the population of children here in the United States, the rate was up to 62% lower, something that is most certainly impressive by just about any standards.
In addition to this, urgent care centers are able to provide various forms of testing, from pregnancy testing to STD testing and even beyond. Many an urgent care location will even offer things like DOT drug and alcohol testing as well as TB testing, two forms of testing that are actually often necessary when looking at getting hired by many institutions all throughout the United States. Getting this testing done at an urgent care center allows you to get it taken care of in a fast and efficient way, something that is not always possible in a typical doctor’s office. Therefore, walk-in clinics seem many such cases on a regular basis and their providing of such services is hugely beneficial for many people across the board.
Getting treatment for various injuries is more possible at urgent care center than many people actually realize. After all, the majority of all walk in clinics – up to 80% of them, as a matter of fact- are likely to provide fracture care. And getting your fracture diagnosed and treated at an urgent care center instead of at a hospital is something that will save the average patient a good deal of time and money alike. A fracture that is particularly severe might still need hospital care, but the run of the mill fracture will fit within the scope of the average walk in urgent care centers seen here in the United States. Ultimately, this is something that would benefit people to know about indeed.
Even outside of the medical care that can be provided, there are still many benefits to going to a walk-in medical care clinic. For instance, you can go there just about anytime, something that is typically and unfortunately not true of the typical doctor’s office. After all, up to a full 85% of all urgent care facilities are actually open each and every day of the week. Many even open earlier in the morning and close later into the evening than the typical doctor’s office as well, yet another thing that helps people to avoid the long wait times and costs that can be all too commonly associated with the emergency room. The convenience of the average urgent care center is certainly one of the factors that have made it highly utilized.
