Urgent care centers have exploded all throughout the United States. Since first beginning in the year of 2000, thousands have joined in the ranks of the first few. In fact, the year of 2016 found that more than 7,000 urgent care centers existed. In the years that have followed since, it is only likely that this number has continued to grow and grow. After all, up to three million people are serviced by urgent care clinics over the course of a single week and as many as 20,000 different doctors have found employment at one urgent care clinic or another.
There are many reasons, after all, that such walk-in clinics have become so very popular and so increasingly utilized in communities all throughout this country. For one thing, they are hugely convenient. With more than 80% of all walk in clinics open each and every day of the week, finding care in an urgent care center has become far easier than making a regular doctor’s appointment. As wait times never extend over an average of a mere half of an hour in most urgent care locations, it also must be noted that multicare urgent care centers are providing a viable alternative to emergency room care as well, where costs are high in terms of both time and money alike.
And urgent care locations can provide friendly medical care that is more all encompassing than many people even realize until they go get urgent care treatment themselves. After all, various injuries are easily able to be handled at any typical walk in urgent care center. For instance, up to a full 80% of all walk in urgent care centers are able to both diagnose and treat fractures. For those with an ankle sprain, of which up to 25,000 happen in a single day, being able to get such assessments for their injury is critical. And with minor fracture treatment available in walk in clinics throughout the country, more and more people sustaining such types of injuries are able to save both their time and money, as they now do not need to automatically go to their nearest emergency room location.
Of course, the typical walk-in medical care clinic is able to provide various other forms of medical care as well. For instance, a walk-in medical clinic is likely to treat a variety of skin conditions, especially during the summer months when skin conditions are more likely to be contracted as more and more people are choosing to spend time outside. For instance, sunburn occurs far more easily than many realize until, again, it happens to them. But the skin can become damaged in as little as 15 minutes, and serious burns are much more common than many realize. Fortunately, topical treatments provided in an urgent care center can help to alleviate some of the most uncomfortable burn symptoms, allowing patients to find more comfort during the healing process.
And poison ivy is another common skin conditions treated in most walk in clinics. After all, poison ivy can be found in every single state that is located in the continental United States, which allows for regular contact with it. As up to a full 85% of all people experience an allergy to poison ivy when and if they come into contact with it, urgent care locations are likely to see many a poison ivy case over the course of the typical year.
Illnesses are also in need of medical treatment from urgent care locations. These medical treatments are likely to range from antibiotics to IV fluids, depending on the issue at hand. For instance, more than eight million urinary tract infections will be diagnosed over the course of a year, but these infections typically just require a course of antibiotics to fully clear up. Food poisoning cases, on the other hand, might require more monitoring – as the dehydration that they lead to can all too quickly become dangerous. In fact, as many as 3,000 people will die of food poisoning and what it leads to over the course of just one year here in the United State alone.
