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5 Reasons to Visit Urgent Care

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An urgent care facility is the best place to get medical care for anything that isn’t a life-threatening emergency. Whether you need a flu vaccination, an x-ray, or treatment for a sinus infection, here are five reasons you should go to an urgent care center first:

Urgent Care is More Convenient Than a Doctor’s Office

If you try to arrange an appointment at a doctor’s office, you’ll have to wait for their schedule to be open. This could mean taking your kids out of school or taking time off work for yourself. No one wants to do that for something like a simple flu vaccination. In fact, the CDC reports that half the adult visits to the ER that don’t result in hospital admission happened just because those patient’s doctors’ offices were closed.

Urgent Care is Faster Than the Emergency Room

The emergency room isn’t a great choice, either. Emergency room waits can be really long. Meanwhile, over at medical urgent care, seeing a doctor or other medical provider takes less than 15 minutes for 60% of people who visit. And 80% of all urgent care visitors wait less than an hour.

Urgent Care Has Convenient Hours

More than half of all walk in clinics are open before 9:00 am, and more than 45% are open that early on Saturday. More than 30% are open early even on Sunday. More than 90% of all medical urgent care is available after 7:00pm on weeknights, too.

Urgent Care is a Great Place to See a Doctor

There is a misconception among some people that you can’t actually see a doctor at an urgent care facility. A doctor or group of doctors owns about 50% of all the walk in urgent care facilities in America. And 65% of all urgent care centers have a doctor available at all times they are open. You can also rest assured that the clinic will refer you on if your case is more serious than they are equipped to handle

Urgent Care is More Appropriate Than the Emergency Room

If you need a flu vaccination or someone in your family has an infection or the flu, there is really no need to go to the emergency room. Urgent care centers are faster and cheaper, and 70% of urgent care centers can provide IV fluids while 80% are able to provide care for fractures. Sprains, illnesses, preventative care, routine exams, flu vaccinations: all of these can be taken care of at an urgent care facility.

There are a lot of great reasons to check out your local walk in clinic the next time you or someone in your family needs medical care. The hours are more convenient than those at a doctor’s office, and your visit will be faster and cheaper than heading to the emergency room. Next time you need a flu vaccination, why not try an urgent care facility?

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Alternatives to Emergency Room Care

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In lieu of visiting the medical center emergency room, there are more convenient options like an after hours urgent care center. It is especially convenient when over 80 percent of all urgent care patients can boast of a wait time that is less than about 15 minutes, according to the Urgent Care Association of America. When using an urgent care nearby, you can save significant time and expense that comes from using the emergency room for your minor injuries.

For most minor health issues, easy availability means you can steer clear of the emergency room services for after hour treatment. The convenience of being able to see a doctor with such minimal advance notice is critical when experiencing symptoms like the flu or a nasty cold. If you get sick outside of your doctors normal hours, when your ailments are not bad enough to seek emergency room care, but too uncomfortable to wait for the doctor to open, the urgent care clinic is a great option to the medical center emergency room.

Estimates show that over one third of all U.S. emergency room visits could have been taken care of quicker and at far less cost in an after hours clinic. Basically, urgent care facilities have the diagnostic equipment to get your general lab work, xrays or necessary testing done. Also, they are set up for sprains, suspected breaks or stitches so you can get timely care without visiting the emergency room.

One of the other advantages of using an urgent care facility is their availability to easily schedule your minor things, like routine vaccinations and physicals. Additionally, those that strive to get their annual flu shot can avoid waiting to schedule it with their primary care physician, and rely on the doctors at the urgent care facility to provide shots almost immediately. Also, things like yearly sports physicals can be obtained relatively quickly.

While there are generally sufficient facilities for urgent care nearby, there is still an ongoing expansion. The Urgent Care Association of America estimates another 9,000 urgent care facilities are in position to expand. That means that your ability to get after hours care or minor emergency treatment will only get better as the facilities grow in numbers. Read this for more: www.immediateclinic.com