As more and more people are realizing, the average urgent care center provides a great place for competent medical care. In fact, less than 5% of all cases originally seen in any given urgent care location will ever need to be sent to a local emergency room, meaning that the average urgent care clinic is actually able to competently and thoroughly treat up to 97% of the cases that they see, something that is hugely impressive indeed. As a matter of fact, it has even been estimated that as many as 65% of all emergency room patients could have actually instead been easily treated in a walk in clinic in their area instead, something that would have likely ended up saving them a good deal of time and money alike.
After all, the typical urgent care location can treat a wide array of medical concerns indeed, making urgent care treatment more all encompassing than many might think – at least at first. For instance, a whole host of illnesses can be diagnosed and treated – and sometimes even prevented – in the typical walk in urgent care clinic. Consider, for instance, the flu, a disease that can impact up to 20% of the population here in the United States during a particularly bad year. Even during more mild years, at least 5% of the population is likely to contract the flu before the season draws to a close.
But while many think of the flu as a relatively mild illness that just needs to be waited out, much in the same ways as the common cold does, this is not really the case. The common cold typically lasts for anywhere from two days to two weeks and while this can be frustrating, it very rarely leads to any other medical issues – and with up to one billion colds contracted throughout the country over the course of a typical year, this is quite the well established fact. The flu, on the other hand, can easily escalate into much more serious issues, sometimes even leading to life threatening cases of pneumonia and sepsis. Among at risk populations, the likelihood of such issues occurring is particularly high, but the flu can fell even otherwise young and healthy adults.
Therefore, going to an urgent care center for a flu shot should be the priority of just about everyone in the United States. Urgent care clinics will often offer flu shots at incredibly affordable prices, even for those who do not have any form of medical insurance. And while getting a flu shot is not a 100% guarantee against getting the flu, having some level of protection is certainly far better than having none at all, to say the very least. And even if you do still end up getting the flu after receiving a flu shot, the flu that you get is likely to be much less serious and much less likely to lead to those life threatening complications mentioned above.
Of course, the average walk in urgent care centers will also provide treatment for a variety of injuries as well. Ankle sprains are commonly seen in the average walk in urgent care center – something that should really be expected, as there are actually as many as 25,000 ankle sprains taking place over the course of the typical day, all within the United States. In up to 80% of all walk-in clinics, even more serious cases can be handled, as such cases are able to diagnose fractures and then go on to treat them – something that might surprise many people to hear.
It should come as no surprise that urgent care centers are now thriving more than ever, employing as many as 20,000 doctors all throughout the country. These doctors are needed, after all, as up to three million people will attend these urgent care locations over the course of just one week alone. And nowadays there are now more than 7,000 such clinics open, a number that is only likely to grow quite tremendously in the years that are ahead of us, even spreading all throughout the entirety of the world.
