To the unfortunate detriment of everyone involved, the United States healthcare system is a hot and complicated issue. No matter which side of the debate wins, the reality is that all clinics should provide the highest quality care for the most number of people. That is one and ought to be one of the goals of medicine. A walk in clinic is one of the more efficient ways to accomplish this. While the traditional ER in a hospital may have a comparatively long wait and high cost, the walk in clinic deals with common illness and injury in a much more cost effective manner. Urgent care centers typically see 342 patients per week and over 95% of them have physicians ready to take care of all manner of problems. Many of them offer a wide range of care, from full body exams to IV fluids when necessary. There are a lot of reasons to choose the urgent care clinic over larger hospitals. Here are two of the the more common situations that may necessitate a visit to an urgent care clinic.
School Physicals
Before attending some lower schools or higher universities, a physical may be required to assess the student’s state of health. A school physical exam is easy to get at a walk in clinic. They test for most common communicable diseases and all sorts of possible infection. The urgent care clinic typically provides a flu shot as well, a must for all healthy children attending school. Some will give advice regarding physicians to see regarding potential eyesight problems or any other issue that may have an adverse effect on performance in the classroom. This can even be done in the morning before school starts, with over half of urgent care centers opening before 9 am on weekdays and many being open on weekends. That way the physical can be administered and no lessons are missed.
Sports Exams
There’s more to the urgent care clinic experience than standard medicine. Health clinics will also inspect musculature and physical health for sporting needs, too. An orthopedic doctor can assess athletic health and what activities will be safe for the athlete in question. They can check bone and limb health to make sure that everything is in working order before injury can arise from otherwise hidden complications. Whether it’s football, soccer or baseball, the walk in clinic is a quick alternative to the traditional hospital visit to get a full exam. Not just full but fast as well. 69% of all clinics will have waiting times below 20 minutes. 28% will have a 20-40 minute wait. This is convenient for such a quick exam and is a preferable to the longer crowed lines often found at larger hospitals.