If you are the typical person living in the United States, you are likely well aware of the fact that finding the right healthcare can be quite difficult indeed, to say the very least. For a great many people, finding this healthcare is done through frequenting the local emergency room. However, this is a less than ideal solution for a wide array of reasons.
For one thing, the local emergency room is likely to be quite crowded at just about any point in time. As a matter of fact, the average time for a patient to wait in the waiting room alone is now at least one hour, and sometimes even more than this. For many people, even more hours will be spent waiting once a bed has been obtained, as it is true that far too many emergency rooms are simply overworked and understaffed, meaning that only the most emergent of all patients are likely to be treated in a timely and efficient manner. For many people, unfortunately, the exact opposite will be true.
And going to the emergency room for emergency care is also very much expensive, whether or not you have healthcare and medical insurance. As a matter of fact, the average bill for an emergency room visit is actually likely to exceed a full $1,000 at the very least. In some cases, the total cost for an ER visit is even quite astronomically higher. For many people, especially those who are already struggling financially, this is hugely devastating. Medically induced bankruptcy is, as a result, becoming more and more common, more prevalent, with each passing year.
For many people, going to a medical walk in clinic provides a viable alternative. Fortunately, the average urgent care walk in clinic is becoming more and more popular all throughout the United States. As of the year of 2016, there were already more than 7,000 walk in clinics found throughout the United States alone. In the years that have transpired since, the number of walk in clinics providing clinic care have only continued to increase – and WILL only continue to increase as time passes ever onward. For many people, the walk in clinic is a great source of medical care – after all, up to three million people will visit one walk in clinic or another over the course of just one single week.
But why, exactly, are medical walk in clinics so popular and important. For one thing, they are staffed by fully trained and licensed doctors, more than 20,000 of them working at various medical clinics throughout the country. Through the aid of these doctors, high quality medical care can be obtained. And this care ranges dramatically, from the treatment of respiratory infections (the most common illness seen at any given walk in clinic in the United States) to basic wound repair (the most common procedure performed at any given walk in clinic).
And even more serious issues can also be dealt with at your typical walk in clinic – and this is something that a good many people might be surprised to learn. For instance, up to four fifths of all walk in clinics and urgent care centers are actually able to provide diagnosis for and treatment of fractures. Such care can be ideal for avoiding hospital fees, as fractures are more common than many might realize and can originate from all kinds of places, from sports injuries and beyond. Therefore, going to an urgent care walk in clinic can be the best possible option for fracture patients, though more serious breaks should likely still be treated in the typical hospital setting.
At the end of the day, more and more people are likely to obtain care at the typical walk in clinic in the years that are ahead. After all, more than 80% of all walk in clinics are actually open every single day of the week and have reasonable wait periods, making them an ideal alternative for getting medical help when it is needed. For many people, going to a walk in clinic has become even more desirable than getting emergency room care for many different reasons.
