The girls were dressed and had already eaten breakfast. You and your husband had finished your coffee and reading the Sunday morning newspapers. As the four of you waited for your son to come down stairs, you heard a really loud crash. The four of you waited a few seconds before you responded. Quite honestly, you were all accustomed to all kinds of noise when your six year old son is involved. After the slight pause, however, the scream followed and the four of you ran up the stairs to find out what had happened.
Your son was bleeding, again, but this time the cut above his left eyebrow appears to be more serious. Your son, the one in the family who is prone to accidents, is typically pretty calm through many injuries that would seriously upset the girls. On this occasion, however, it was pretty clear that medical help would be required.
Sure enough, instead of going to church this Sunday, at least part of the family would be heading to the closest urgent care clinic. You joke that you really should have a frequent flier card at the nearest urgent care clinic. Especially for your son.
Emergency room doctors provide important services, but this most expensive health care platform is not always needed. If you are looking for non emergency wound care, fracture care, or flu shots and other vaccines, an urgent care clinic can provide. In a time when many more people are finding access to affordable health care, it should come as no surprise that health care platforms themselves are looking for ways to serve more patients in a more efficient way.
The latest research indicates that six out of 10 Baby Boomers will be managing a chronic condition by the year 2030. In efforts to make sure that these chronic conditions are successfully monitored and treated, it will be essential to continue to find ways to administer this care to more patients in a variety of settings.
Fortunately, an estimated 3 million patients visit urgent care centers each week, according to the Urgent Care Association of America. Even more fortunate is the fact that there are currently 20,000 physicians who practice urgent care medicine today. By providing more locations where patients can seek non emergency care, there are many benefits. Including the benefits that help a family who has to cancel church plans to get stitches for a six year old!
