Finding the right type of medical care and medical attention can be difficult, especially if your family doctor’s office is closed for the day, the weekend, or a holiday. For many people, however, local urgent care centers are quickly becoming a more and more viable alternative. After all, with more than 7,000 urgent care locations in operation all throughout the United States, finding such a walk in clinic and using its services has become truly easier than ever before, something that is only compounded by the fact that as many as 85% of all urgent care clinics are actually open not only during the work week, but on weekends and even holidays as well.
You can go to your local urgent care center for complicated medical concerns as well as much more simple ones, as urgent care treatment is a form of medical treatment that is much more all encompassing than many people actually realize. For one thing, stitches can often be obtained at an walk in urgent care center. And in the majority of walk in urgent care centers – in four out of every five, to be just a bit more specific – fracture care, at least minor fracture treatment, can be obtained.
Other injuries can, of course, also be treated. Ankle sprains are commonly seen in the average walk-in medical care clinic. This is only to be expected, after all, thanks to the fact that up to 25,000 ankle sprains are sustained over the course of the day. While you might think that you are okay in the aftermath of a sprain causing accident, going into your local urgent care location might be ideal, if only to ensure that you have not sustained a fracture along with your sprain, as the fracture might require more extensive medical treatments.
Flu shots are also a part of the friendly medical care offered by local urgent care centers seen throughout the country. After all, protecting yourself against the flu as much as you possibly can is an important thing indeed, as the flu can infect anywhere from 5% of the population all the way up to one full fifth of the population during any given flu season. Even if you end up contracting the flu even when you have had a flu shot, the flu that you experience will be much less likely to lead to further complications and the need for much more serious flu treatment. Therefore, everyone who is able should be getting their flu shot on a yearly basis.
Infections can also be treated at urgent care locations throughout the country. If you suspect that you have one, going in for medical care should be done as soon as possible, thanks to the fact that untreated infections can become much more serious in a relatively rapid span of time. Consider, for instance, the average urinary tract infections. UTIs are incredibly painful and can make life hard, but they are typically not dangerous. Very frequently diagnosed (more than eight million cases in a single year, here in the United States alone), UTIs are thought to be a minor ailment. And while they certainly can be when treated promptly, untreated UTIs do not always resolve on their own and can, in fact, spread to the kidneys of the patient, which can require much more extensive care and sometimes even hospitalization.
Urgent care treatment can also encompass treatment for poison ivy. After all, poison ivy is reactive in up to 85% of the population and is found in up to 48 of the 50 states in this country – and all of the states found in the continental United States. For many people, getting poison ivy is not dangerous but deeply uncomfortable and even quite painful. Going into an urgent care center for treatment can be helpful, even if it only brings a relatively minor amount of relief.
At the end of the day, you should consider your local urgent care center when you are next in need of medical treatment, as the care provided at urgent care locations is higher than many people actually realize.