Urgent care locations have sprung up all throughout the United States in the now 20 years since their inception. As a matter of fact, up to 89 million people in this one country alone seek out urgent care treatment over the course of the year, boiling down to around three million people seeking such care throughout the course of just one single week. And because of this demand, there are now as many as 20,000 doctors, if not even more than that, working in the field of urgent care, a number that is only set to continue rising.
There are many different conditions, after all, that you can have treated in your local walk in clinic. Those dealing with the aftermath of occupational health hazards often find that the nearest urgent care facility can meet their needs well. After all, many occupational health hazards will result in minor injuries. These occupational health hazards, therefore, would be largely expensive and time-wasting if the person sustaining the occupational health hazards was required to go to the nearest emergency room for all their care in the aftermath of these occupational health hazards. Fortunately, however, urgent care centers have done away with much of the need for frequent ER visits in this regard, as they are more equipped to treat various occupational health hazards than you might realize.
For instance, a typical medical walk in clinic is actually quite likely to be able to treat a minor fracture. This is thanks to the fact that up to 80% of all urgent care locations have the necessary equipment to provide fracture diagnosis and care. For those who fracture an ankle as part of occupational health hazards and for those who do just do it accidentally over the course of day to day life, this is something that can be largely beneficial indeed. The same can be said for those who sustain ankle sprains as well, as sprains can be quite serious (even though up to 80% are caused simply by an inversion of the ankle). And with up to 25,000 ankle sprain cases taking place over the course of a single day, there is no doubt about it that the average walk in medical clinic will be well versed in how to care for such an injury.
Various other medical concerns can also be handled in an urgent care setting. Sunburns, for instance, are quite commonly seen in walk in health clinics, especially during the summer months, when the sun’s rays are stronger and people are spending more time outside than ever. Sunburns can occur more easily than you might realize, with skin damage beginning after just 15 minutes of exposed skin in the sun (with no measures of sun protection taken). If you forget to wear sunscreen or even just neglect to reapply it as you should, it is all too likely that you will face the consequences of this choice sooner rather than later. Fortunately, going to an urgent care clinic to get a sunburn checked out is more than possible – and can give you some relief from the pain and discomfort. This is a great resource for people for whom sunburns are occupational health hazards (typically, people who are mainly working outside during the summer months).
Various infections can also be treated in a local walk in clinic. The UTI (urinary tract infection) is a great example of a common infection seen in a walk in clinic setting, one that is diagnosed and treated more than eight million times over the course of just one single year. Typically, this infection will be seen in adult women, who contract UTIs up to 30 times more than men do. Fortunately, the treatment for a UTI is a simple one, typically requiring just a single round of antibiotics to wipe out the infection. However, going in to see a medical professional for a UTI is a must, as an untreated UTI can all too easily become more serious and even lead to a kidney infection, which will be even more painful and will require a much stronger course of antibiotics to be able to treat.
