Well-being and good health are things that most of us strive to achieve on a regular basis. The human body is prone to develop problems from time to time, and sound medical treatment is something that we always crave. Health conditions can have a wide variety of negative impacts on our lives, causing pain, debilitation and loss of function. With good quality medical care at the hands of a skilled doctor, it is possible to get to a cure with speed and efficiency. While hospital emergency rooms are the usual destinations for many with health conditions, there are a number of reasons why you might be better off visiting urgent care centers for your medical needs.
Urgent care clinics provide most of the same functions and services as hospital emergency rooms, but with a number of palpable advantages. In a hospital emergency room, the focus is usually on being prepared for emergency situations and to handle large scale medical requirements at one place. Consequently, people with regular or urgent health care needs which do not qualify as an emergency naturally take second place in the pecking order. Also, in order to handle high volumes and to successfully manage logistics, hospital emergency rooms tend to be fragmented into separate departments for separate requirements, which means people need to spend more time and visit more places in the natural course of a particular medical treatment.
In an urgent care facility, the provisions are for those patients who have conditions that are urgent, but do not qualify as medical emergencies. This way, they can cater to a large number of patients quickly, without having to go through a lot of the commotion and long wait times that are usually experienced at emergency rooms. If you are looking for quick, robust treatment options, an urgent care center can deliver with the following important advantages –
- Less Waiting – Hospital emergency room treatment routinely involves long wait times. Doctors have to attend to emergency cases first, or might be needed in critical surgical procedures. Places like imaging departments or pharmacies might be in separate wings or block and might have their own queues. Urgent care centers do not have these hassles, and you can expect prompt, fast response and treatment with remarkably less waiting time. In fact, statistics show that in almost 60% of the cases, patients get to see their doctor within 15 minutes of time, and with about 80% of people the whole process is over within an hour.
- More Convenience – One of the most important advantages that you can enjoy at urgent care centers is the overall convenience. Not only is there less waiting, but you do not have to run to different departments for different purposes either. Everything happens in one place in a centralized, efficient manner and these facilities are equipped with the latest medical technologies and trained medical practitioners. They can also provide immediate treatment for conditions that need urgent attention. For example, 80% of all urgent care clinics can provide care for fractures, while about 70% are equipped with intravenous fluid, should that need to be administered.
- Less Costs – On account of the fact that hospital emergency rooms really need to be equipped for medical emergencies, the cost of setting up and running such an establishment along with the required personnel is huge. This ultimately reflects on the amount of money you have to pay for your care at an ER, and this is where you can make some important cost savings if you go to an urgent care clinic instead. Since these operate on a smaller scale and do not need emergency equipment, treatment at urgent care clinics cost significantly less. This is particularly advantageous, especially if you have to visit regularly.
Overall, urgent care centers can be a viable alternative to hospital emergency rooms, providing the same standards of medical care quicker, and more convenience and lesser costs.
