Finding the right form of medical care can be quite a confusing thing, as anyone who has ever perused a doctors directory can likely attest to with ease. After all, your typical doctors directory will include a great many doctors in the area, all specializing in different things and working out of different offices. For many, the doctors directory is a helpful tool. However, what happens when the doctor that you have chosen through any given doctors directory is not open for business? In such cases, you might have to look outside of the doctors found in a doctors directory – at least outside of those who are working as general care and family practice doctors – to find the medical help that you need.
You could, of course, go to a local emergency room. Many people turn to the emergency room care that is provided by an emergency room doctor when they are unable to get in to see their own doctor. After all, the typical emergency room is open 24 hours of the day and all days of the year, making it a good place to go when the typical doctor’s office, such as one found in a doctors directory, is closed for the day or even for the weekend.
But going to any local emergency room can be less than ideal for a number of different reasons. For one thing, the ER typically has incredibly long waiting times. It is not unheard of or even uncommon to wait as long as an hour before being seen. And for someone with a non emergent condition, this wait time will only stretch longer, depending on the day and the time (and the particular emergency room that was available to them, for that matter). And the emergency room, in addition to having an incredibly long wait time, can also be quite expensive too. As a matter of fact, the average person is actually likely to owe more than $1,000 after the typical emergency room visit – even for what amounts to be a relatively minor concern.
Fortunately, the growing number of urgent care centers seen throughout the country are providing a more and more viable alternative with each passing year. They have even begun to become relevant to the typical doctors directory, as now more than 20,000 doctors and even more other such medical professionals are employed at urgent care locations found all throughout the country. And these doctors are actually able to treat much more intensive and serious issues than many people might realize, at least before they themselves are in need of such levels of care.
For instance, it is far from uncommon for fracture care to be found at the typical urgent care center. As a matter of fact, up to 80% (more than three quarters, to be more clear) of all urgent care clinics are able to provide fracture care. And with as many as 25,000 sprained ankles being sustained over the course of just one single day, it is likely for the typical urgent care center to see many a of these as well. Ultimately, going to an urgent care center for such injuries is something that is likely to save you both time and money.
Other conditions can also be treated by first rate doctors in your area and employed at the local urgent care clinic. For instance, a sunburn can be assessed at an urgent care center. After all, getting a serious burn is much easier than many people realize, thanks to the fact that your skin can actually start to burn after only just a mere 15 minutes of sun exposure without any additional protection against it. Ultimately, getting your sunburn assessed if you are worried about it can only be helpful. Fortunately, getting it done by a medical professional at a local urgent care center is a way that you can do it without wasting a bunch of time as well as saving a good deal of money in the meantime. For many people, this means that walk in medical clinic is likely to be the much better choice than an emergency room.
