For Americans today of all ages, there is always the risk of suffering minor injuries, illness, or other health issues, and many Americans today are on prescription drugs and will need these medications refilled from time to time. What can be done when someone has a food allergy being set off, or if they sprain their ankle or catch the flu during flu season? Going to urgent care is the right call for someone with a minor medical condition, and these places can be very convenient to find and visit, and are often quite affordable and do not involve long wait times. Often, just searching for “urgent care centers near me” into a smart phone or computer is enough to find a local urgent care clinic to visit, and some of them have very broad hours of operation. What can be expected at urgent care?
Maladies
A number of problems can arise to necessitate a visit to urgent care. Minor injuries, illness, and food allergies are common. Ankle sprains, for example, are common among Americans, and it is estimated that around 25,000 people will suffer an ankle sprain on any given day, such as during playing sports or jogging. Other sprains, such as in the wrists or neck, may happen, too, and urgent care can handle these problems. Even bone problems can be taken care of at an urgent care center or a walk in clinic; four out of five such facilities will be able to handle bone fractures, and perhaps broken fingers or toes, too. Ultimately, the most common urgent care ailment treated in the year 2012 was upper respiratory problems, and the most common procedure that year was wound repair.
Other problems may drive a person to get treatment at an urgent care facility in their area. For example, a bad cold or flu. These are common problems; it has been determined that every single year, Americans will collectively catch one billion colds total, and symptoms of this virus may last from 48 hours to 14 days, with an average 10-day recovery time. Also, in an average year, 5% to 20% of Americans will catch the flu, with symptoms like vomiting, chills, fever, muscle aches, and more presenting themselves, and a person suffering a bad flu may want to visit an urgent care location nearby as soon as they can. Finally, allergies can be treated at urgent care, such as food allergies like peanuts or fish, as well as skin rashes or swelling. Drug prescriptions may be refilled or prescribed at an urgent care center if need be.
Medical Care Facilities
Urgent care centers themselves are designed to be effective, convenient, time friendly, and easy to find for a large variety of patients every single day. In fact, if no problems arise, an average urgent care center may see three patients every hour, and the average waiting time at such a center is around 15 minutes. Many thousands of such centers can be found across the United States, and some are even open seven days a week, although exact hours of operation may vary. Some urgent care centers are in fact retail urgent care clinics, meaning that they are built into larger, major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Target, and Walgreens, and medical care and drug prescriptions can easily be obtained at these places. What is more, major retailers are often placed at easy to find locations and have ample parking, so a retail clinic inside can be very convenient to visit. over 20,000 physicians and nurse practitioners take part in urgent care today across the nation, and they will accept nearly any patient, and their costs are often much lower than at other medical facilities, although this may vary.
