The walk in clinic has risen in prominence over the course of recent years. Already by the time that we had reached the year of 2016, now nearly half of a decade in the past, there were well over 7,000 urgent care clinics found all throughout the United States. In the years that are ahead of us, the rise of the walk in clinic has continued. Already, more than three million people attend various urgent care locations over the course of the typical week. This means that very nearly one quarter of our country’s entire population has been to a walk in urgent care center at least once over the course of the last couple of years.
And these walk in clinics are more reputable than you might think. After all, they now staff at least 20,000 doctors and other such medical professionals, if not even more. These doctors are just as qualified to practice medicine as the doctors that you’d find in a family practice, general care practitioner’s office, or even emergency room. Therefore, going to a walk in clinic can be a great alternative for getting medical care.
After all, there are many benefits to going to a medical clinic instead of elsewhere for your medical help. For one thing, the average walk in clinic will be open every single day of the week, something that holds true for up to 85% of all urgent care clinics found throughout the United States alone. In addition to this, wait times at the typical walk in clinic are also more than ideal. In more than 90% of all walk-in clinics, the average wait time is no greater than a mere half of an hour. And in more than half of all urgent care locations, the wait time is, on average, no greater than just 15 minutes. There is no doubting the fact that this is impressive – and much shorter than the wait time you’d find in just about any emergency room in the area. In fact, the average wait time for any given emergency room is likely to reach a full hour.
The average walk in clinic can provide a great deal of impressive medical care as well. For instance, up to 97% of all cases seen first in a walk in clinic will able to be treated there. Fortunately, this means that less than 5% of all urgent care center cases will ultimately need to be transferred to a hospital location instead. On the other hand, as much as 60% of all cases seen first in a hospital would have been able to be treated instead in an urgent care center, something that would have provided a saving of time and money alike.
Urgent care centers can handle complex cases, after all, with up to 80% of them able to provide some level of fracture care to patients coming in with injuries. Even ankle sprains can lead to fracture, and with more than 25,000 cases of ankle sprain occurring throughout the course of just one day in the United States, it is clear to see how such medical help becomes a necessity. Various other medical treatments for injuries can be provided, be they sports injuries or injuries that have occurred in the course of everyday life. Even stitches can often be performed in a walk in clinic, something that you can then avoid going to a hospital for, which is certainly largely beneficial indeed.
At the end of the day, there is no doubt about it that the average walk in clinic is becoming more and more prominent as time passes on. For many people, going to a nearby walk in clinic not only saves them money, but a great deal of time as well – at least in a direct comparison to the money they would have spent and the time they would have wasted in an emergency room. All things considered, there are many reasons that you might decide to go to your local urgent care clinic. And in the years that are ahead of us, these reasons will only become more and more clear.
