Urgent care centers are fairly a new thing comparatively. They have really proved beneficial to the communities where they are for the medical service as well as the patients. Urgent cares are known to be faster and more inexpensive than the regular emergency walk in clinic. Urgent care medical clinics have much to offer people in the way of treatment which reduces the enormous amount of cases that come in to an emergency room or hospital. Because of this, the free walk in clinic is almost more popular than the emergency room or even preferred over seeing a primary care doctor.
There are quite a few things that ensure that urgent cares are run effectively, professionally and ethically. For one, urgent care facilities are usually required to have a licensed physician as manager and about half of the clinics are actually owned by doctors. Lots of urgent cares are open 24 hours but if not 24 hours then at least open very late and on weekends also. The average wait time is approximately 15 minutes and your entire visit can be resolved in under an hour and cost half the price of a visit to the emergency room.
Many of these free community health clinics are expanding the kinds of services that they offer in order to better serve the community. In addition to providing medical care for non life threatening cases, lots of clinics now offer physicals, blood work, drug tests, same day std testing, xrays and some even have physical therapy equipment which is used to diagnose and treat musculoskeletal issues. Urgent care centers are now probably the best place to get access to many different kinds of medical attention.
Same day STD testing is a real benefit of the new additions to the services offered by urgent care clinics because this is not something offered in very many places. But, now you can walk in without an appointment and receive a test right then and there without having to come back another day by appointment only. Those who do have an STD can quickly and easily contract HIV so same day STD testing is crucial to catching a disease early and being able to treat it properly.
Urgent care is a calmer environment, suited for non-emergent conditions. You can walk in to an urgent care just like you can an ER and be treated immediately. Below are the reasons you would visit an urgent care.
- Fever without rash
- Common sprain or fractures
- Painful urination
- Persistent diarrhea
- Severe sore throat
- Vomiting
Pretty much anything that is not a life threatening condition. Also, when it doubt, go to the emergency room. It?s better to be safe than sorry.