More than 80 percent of urgent care patients have a wait of 15 minutes or less according to the Urgent Care Association of America. By visiting an urgent care nearby, you can save significant inconvenience from the emergency room for minor injuries.
For most minor illnesses and minor health issues, you can avoid emergency room services for after hour treatment. The convenience of being able to see a doctor with little to no advance notice is huge when you are coming down with the flu or a nasty cold. If your doctor is not open, sometimes these ailments are not bad enough for emergency room care, but too uncomfortable to wait for the doctor to open.
It is estimated that more than one third of all U.S. emergency room visits could have been taken care of faster and more affordably in an after hours clinic. Generally, urgent care nearby has the diagnostic equipment for general lab work, xrays or testing. For sprains or suspected breaks, you can save hours by visiting urgent care versus the emergency room.
One of the other advantages of using an urgent care facility is the flexibility of scheduling various minor things, such as vaccinations and physicals. For those that need a flu shot annually, you may face a wait if you schedule it with your primary care physician, but the doctors at the urgent care facility can provide them almost immediately. Also, things like childrens yearly sports physicals can be obtained relatively quickly.
While there are generally sufficient facilities for urgent care nearby, there is still an ongoing expansion. The Urgent Care Association of America estimates another 9,000 urgent care facilities are in position to expand. That means that your ability to get after hours care or minor emergency treatment will only get better as the facilities grow in number throughout the U.S. Continue.
