With more than one billion colds afflicting the American people every year, it is little wonder that demand for good quality medical care is high. In addition, between 5% and 20% of the population get flu every year. The stress on medical services can be significant, especially if people opt to use emergency care for non-emergency situations. But getting the medical care you need when you need it is vital.
As emergency rooms and GP?s offices continue to feel the strain of increased demand, the role of walk in urgent care centers becomes even more important. Urgent care centers are not a replacement for emergency departments nor are they a substitute to family doctors. Rather they offer a service that bridges the gap between the two and offers care for non-life threatening incidents including broken bones and sprains and illnesses such as colds.
According to the Urgent Care Association of America (UCAoA), there are more 7,600 urgent care centers in the United States. UCAoA estimates that these walk in urgent care centers are experiencing more than 89 million patient visits annually. Most (85%) are open seven days a week. Patients will use walk in centers to access doctors for a variety of ailments, most commonly, according to a 2012 study, upper respiratory conditions and wound repair.
Seasonal demand has an impact on the use of urgent care clinics, with most experiencing spikes during late fall and winter, when it is typically flu season. The role of urgent care centers during this time is vital as these clinics offer crucial services to patients while cutting down on unnecessary emergency room visits. Fracture care is offered at as many as four out of five walk in urgent care facilities and broken bones and any of the more than 25,000 daily ankle sprains can all be handled by urgent care instead of emergency.
More than 8 million doctors? visits are made annually as a result of urinary tract infections; urgent care physicians can treat these infections. Hikers and those allergic to poison ivy ? more than 85% of Americans ? can also look to urgent care for treatment. In the majority of non-life threatening cases, urgent care makes sense and allows patients to access good quality care when they need it. By doing so, you will be minimizing the negative impact on much-needed emergency care services so that they can focus on when they are really needed.