It is Monday morning and the first day of your vacation. You decide to work out to get some energy for the rest of your day off. As you are working out, you sprain your ankle. You know you need to get to a doctor, but do you want to wait in line at the emergency room? Why not cut down on the hassle and wait time and head to a Phoenix Urgent Care facility.
With a licensed physician on-site, urgent care centers are able to offer a wide range of services including broken bones, moderate cuts and lacerations requiring stitches, and most common injuries and illnesses including the flu. These services, of course, are made possible with the diagnostic equipment and x-ray machines typically found at an urgent care. According to studies, each year between 5 and 20% of Americans come down with the flu. Instead of having to wait for an opening at their primary care doctor, they can be helped by an urgent care doctor.
Urgent Care cost is much lower than a trip to the emergency room. The typical emergency department visit costs an average of $1,500, while treatment at an urgent care center costs, on average, under $150. The amount of people visiting urgent care facilities continues to grow. An estimated three million patients visit an urgent care center each week in the U.S.
There are approximately 129,043 people in the United States who are employed by urgent care centers. Unlike other walk-in clinics such as retail clinics, urgent care centers are generally staffed by a physician and supported by nurses, physician assistants and medical assistants. Of the physicians that staff urgent care centers, 47.8% are family medicine, 30.1% are emergency medicine and 7.6% are internal medicine.
The urgent care movement began in the 1970s in the United States, but has grown exponentially around the globe since then. Urgent care centers are now an important healthcare delivery component in other countries including Canada, England and Australia. In 2000 New Zealand became the first country to recognize urgent care as a medical specialty.
A Phoenix Urgent Care facility will be able to help you through a wide variety of medical problems. Whether it is a sports injury or you are experiencing flu-like symptoms, a trained physician is ready to help. Avoid the emergency room and use an urgent care center near you.