Seeing a doctor is absolutely necessary when one gets sick, even for minor injuries and illnesses. Unfortunately, people are extremely busy these days, attempting to balance full time jobs with families and other activities, causing them to be unable to find immediate, acute care for these types of non-life threatening ailments. A solution to this ever increasing problem is an urgent care center. This is a type of walk in clinic that provides convenient, multicare medical treatment for everyday Americans. In fact, the Urgent Care Association of America determined that an estimated 3 million patients visit urgent care centers each week, meaning they have a fantastic base of returning individuals that is only going to grow. There are a myriad of benefits urgent care centers provide over other options, all while maintaining truly quality medical care.

Benefits of Going to an Urgent Care Center

1. Convenient walk-in care or scheduled appointments available.

Daily life is busy enough without needing to squeeze in a trip to the doctor, especially at the last minute for acute illnesses such as colds that can come on suddenly. Urgent care centers provide the best of both worlds with an option to make an appointment, if you work better around a schedule, and the option of walk in care, if you are not exactly sure when you will be available or if your schedule is more fluid. Furthermore, there are currently 20,000 physicians practicing urgent care medicine, meaning you will always be able to reach a licensed medical professional during a time of day that works for you, helping you heal faster so you can get back to living life. Urgent care centers work well for the average person who is generally on the go.

2. Hours that work with your schedule.

Most doctors provide services during normal working hours, the same exact time many hardworking Americans are busy with their jobs. To make it worse, many offices are open only during the work week, leaving illnesses that occur on the weekends either left untreated for multiple days or patients with an expensive and time consuming trip to the emergency room. Luckily, most urgent care centers have hours that can work with your schedule, in fact, 85% are open seven days a week. This means that if your child falls at soccer practice, he or she can get treatment for a sprained ankle even on a Sunday. It also means that if you cut your hand while making dinner, you will have a physician available to stitch up the wound.

3. Wide variety of illnesses can be treated.

Urgent care centers provide convenient and immediate service, but what symptoms can urgent care centers actually treat? Surprisingly, these centers have a huge range of capabilities, making them multicare facilities. For example, current reports have concluded that approximately 25,000 Americans sprain an ankle each day. This is a huge number of new patients that need to see a physician immediately. A survey reported that four out of five urgent care centers provide fracture care, meaning these patients can be treated quickly and efficiently, and move on with their day. What would be a long wait in an emergency room or a wasted day on the couch due to difficulty walking is covered by a local urgent care center. Other illnesses, such as upper respiratory conditions, allergic reactions, colds, flus, and even urinary tract infections can all be safely treated at these walk in clinics. This encompasses most of the acute conditions you might encounter.

Urgent care centers provide safe and effective treatment immediately. There is no longer a need to plan your entire week around a doctor appointment to get a simple medical condition resolved. These centers have longer hours, convenient appointment times, and can treat many different medical issues. Finally, these centers are becoming vastly more popular, and centers are opening up in many different towns, including Lacey. Next time you find yourself in need of acute, urgent medical treatment, consider going to an urgent care center so you can heal quickly and easily.