If you’re struggling to find medical care when you need it, you are certainly not alone. For one thing, going to a regular doctor’s office can pose a challenge for those who develop a medical concern outside of office hours. And while many such offices have developed call lines so that patients can speak to a doctor at just about any time of day or night, actually going in and seeing a medical professional will, by and large, give you the most accurate medical assessment and diagnosis, should one be needed. For many people, taking time off of work or child care to go in during office hours is simply not a possibility as well, making seeking out medical care through this venue more difficult than one might at first realize.
The local emergency room presents another option, as such an emergency room will be open at all hours, no matter what the time or the day. However, there are most certainly considerable detriments to seeking your medical care through this venue as well. For one thing, emergency rooms are often crowded, with too many patients for too few overworked doctors and nurses. Unfortunately, this means that average wait times in ER waiting rooms are quite high indeed, now reaching an average of a full hour before being seen by any given doctor. And even for minor conditions, patients find themselves spending hours in the ER, something that can certainly impede the course of their regular day. Of course, we must also mention that ER visits are usually very costly, with an average emergency room visit typically costing more than $1,000 when all is said and done.
So what’s a good solution to this problem? In many cases, urgent care clinics are. Urgent care clinics and other such medical clinics can be found all throughout the country. And the majority are open all throughout the week, with up to 85% of all urgent care clinics boasting at least some hours for every day of the week – including weekends. Extended hours are also very common at these urgent care clinics, allowing for more flexibility in seeking medical attention. Of course, it must also be mentioned that some of these walk in clinics are actually open every single hour of the day, something that is certainly hugely impressive indeed. For many people, finding time to go to a walk in clinic is going to be infinitely easier than seeking medical care elsewhere, even from the local emergency room.
But some people might worry about the medical help and overall quality of care that they might receive in such urgent care clinics. In fact, the quality of care seen in urgent care clinics is actually quite high indeed, to say the very least. After all, all kinds of treatments can be given in urgent care clinics, from injury treatment to treatment for a variety of illnesses. In fact, even preventative treatments, such as that of the flu shot, can be administered at many an urgent care facility. In addition to this, it has also been found that as many as 80% of all urgent care clinics can also offer fracture care as one of their services, as most such clinics now have the equipment and the doctors to do so (with up to 20,000 doctors working at such walk in clinics found all throughout the country). This means that the quality of care found in clinics all throughout the country is a higher quality of care than many people actually realize.
If you’re looking for top of the line medical care that won’t cost you an arm and a leg – and hours of your life spent simply waiting to see a medical professional – you should strongly consider going to one of your local medical clinics. From DOT and STD testing to flu shots to fracture care, a local medical walk in clinic is likely to be able to meet the vast majority of your medical needs. After all, there’s a good reason that more than three million people attend such medical clinics over the course of a single week, a number that is almost certain to grow in the years that are ahead.