Several Reasons Why Urgent Care Centers Are a Welcome Alternative to Traditional Hospital Emergency Rooms

Have you ever visited an urgent care walk-in clinic? You may be interested to learn more about the type of care that can be provided by these facilities. If you tend to visit the hospital emergency room when you become ill or injured after your primary care physician’s office is closed, a walk-in urgent care center can be a welcome alternative.

Urgent care centers tend to have longer operating hours than a traditional doctor’s office During weeknights, for example, over 66% of these centers are open before 9:00 am, and 90.8% will remain open until 7:00 pm. Two out of five of these centers will remain open until 9:00 pm or even later. In terms of weekend hours, 45.7% will be open on Saturdays and 31.1% will be open on Sundays.

In addition to their extended hours, about 60% of these centers’ physicians and physician’s assistants will see patients within less than 15 minutes. It’s also important to note that 65% will always have an on-site physician available. The Urgent Care Association of America’s recent survey showed that 57% of patients waited just 15 minutes to be seen, and roughly 80% of all visits lasted an hour or less.

Urgent care centers are able to provide a variety of medical services, When intravenous fluids are needed, for example, 70% of these centers are able to provide this service. If someone sustains a fracture, 80% of urgent care centers can address this type of injury. It’s also important to note that roughly 40% of these facilities have electronic prescription ordering systems, which is an added convenience.