The drainage overnight caused you to wake up with a sore throat. The aches and the pains by morning were a sure indicator that you needed to make sure you were not falling victim to this season’s flu. Fortunately, you knew that you could get in to see a doctor without a long wait at the closest walk in urgent care clinic. Even without an appointment, you would be able to get in and find out if you had the flu and needed to start treating that or if it was just an end of summer cold that would take care of itself. The advantage to seeing a doctor at one of the conveniently located walk in urgent care centers is that they are both affordable and reliable.
Making the Right Choice About Where You Get the Medical Treatments That You Need Is an Important Decision

From sports physicals to flu shots, a walk in health clinic provides many of today’s health concerns. In fact, when compared to the high price at a hospital emergency room and the long wait at a family physician, a walk in urgent care center is more affordable and more convenient. In a time when more and more Americans are finding themselves in a position where they have access to health insurance, walk in health clinics will be of even more importance.

The latest statistics from the Urgent Care Association of America show that an estimated 3 million patients visit urgent care centers each week. With as many as 20,000 physicians practicing Urgent Care Medicine today, the medical profession is working to adapt to the latest trends in medical care. And while family physicians and pediatricians were once the perfect solution for most people, the fact of the matter is that patients do not always get sick or need medical attention during regular office hours.

Consider some of the various reasons that many people find themselves in need of a visit to a walk in medical clinic:

• Statistics show that the most common diagnosis in an urgent care center in 2012 was upper respiratory condition, and the most common procedure that same year was wound repair.
• The latest research show that not only do urgent care centers have doctors and other medical professionals, four out of five of these clinics provide fracture care.
• About 85% of Americans are allergic to poison ivy, a reaction that is one of the many reasons that people have to make a visit to an urgent care setting.
• You can often find it difficult to tell the difference between a cold and the flu. Because cold symptoms often last from 48 hours to 14 days many people decide to go in and be tested for the flu if the symptoms occur during the flu season. The average person makes a full recovery from a cold within 10 days, but the flu can have more lasting effects.






• Walk-in clinics offer extended hours that make them far more convenient than a family physician’s office.
• Extra hours, in fact, often extend to the weekend. In fact, 85% of urgent care centers are open seven days a week.
• Listening to a doctor can help you understand your current symptoms and help avoid future health problems.
• Leavin the clinic with the prescription that you need is another advantage to a health clinic. In fact, for the nearly 8.1 million visits to doctors each year that result in a diagnosis of a urinary tract infections getting started on an antibiotic is the first step to getting better.

In your effort to STAY WELL it is important to make sure that you take care of your symptoms early instead of waiting until you have a situation that is even more serious. From getting tested for the flu to x-rays, a walk in medical clinic offers a variety of services that can help you feel your best, both today and tomorrow.

Whether you wake up in the morning with a sore throat from your sinuses training all night or your daughter tolled her ankle at a Saturday morning soccer practice, it is important that you find a convenient way to get the affordable care and quality service that you need.