Sometimes medical issues come up that require fast medical care, but that does not mean that every need should be fulfilled at the emergency room. There are many reasons to visit your local urgent care instead. Some of the advantages of urgent include price and efficiency.
Unlike a bustling emergency room where you might spend hours waiting to be seen while getting passed over due to the nature of your injury or sickness, in an urgent care the average patient only waits 15 minutes. The Urgent Care Association of America states that is true for 57 percent of patients, as well as that 80 percent of visits are over in an hour or less.
Urgent care services tend to be available later than at the normal doctor as well. Over 90 percent of urgent care centers stay open past 7 PM on weeknights, while two out of five actually stay open until nine. That makes it a lot easier for people to get same day treatments if they happen to have a full-time job and don’t have the freedom to run off to the doctor in the middle of the day. Since things tend to happen on weekend as well, many urgent care centers have Saturday and Sunday open hours as well.
Do keep in mind that the treatment at your local urgent care is going to be extremely high quality. Half of all urgent care centers are owned by doctors or a group of them, meaning that there are knowledgeable professionals in charge. As many as 65 percent of urgent care centers are going to have at least one physician on hand at all times so you don’t have to worry. However, nurse practitioners are perfectly capable of performing most services anyway.
Urgent care centers are good at dealing with small things, but they’re also good at dealing with some more serious issues as well. You can get fractures treated at 80 percent of urgent care centers, and 70 percent of them can provide intravenous fluids in the circumstances where that is needed.
Urgent care centers might not be able to solve every issue, but most of them are more than capable or providing fast care for great prices. Whether you have insurance or not, the rates at urgent care centers are generally low and occasionally are even lower than a copay through an inurance company.
