In everyday life, Americans young and old will sometimes suffer minor illness or everyday scrapes and bruises, and whenever someone gets hurt or ill with a non life-threatening medical problem, they or a responsible adult nearby should know what to do next: take the victim to an urgent care center nearby for anything ranging from medicine and ointments to stitches or arm or leg braces, depending on the problem suffered. A person can find an urgent care clinic near them for medical treatment by means of a smart phone or PC internet search if they do not already know where to find a clinic, and convenient health care can be found with a quick online search such as “urgent care Los Angeles CA” or “medical care clinic Burlington VT” to find a nearby urgent care site. Not all of them are open 24 hours a day or seven days a week, but even those that aren’t should have broad hours of operation so that they can see many patients per day. What is there to know about medical care clinics today, and what medical problems might prompt a visit to one?
On Urgent Care
An urgent care center should not be confused with a hospital or a private doctor’s office. These are clinics that anyone can visit, often 24 hours a day, and they are also known as walk in clinics since they are easy to access. Such clinics tend to be independent or a part of a small, local network, and they will be staffed with nurse practitioners and physicians who will have the medical expertise and the tools to treat everyday, non life-threatening issues of the patients who visit them. These clinics are often fast and convenient for those who visit them; these clinics are often able to see about three patients per hour if they are running smoothly, and a patient may expect a wait time of about 15 minutes or so. These clinics often accept a variety of health care insurance policies, which can make them even more affordable. Many such clinics tend to have a pharmacy in them as well, where pharmacists can refill drug prescriptions of the patients who visit.
Some urgent care clinics are not standalone buildings, but rather, they are built into larger retailer such as Target or Walgreens, and these are known as retail clinics. Retail clinics may have similar store hours as the larger retailer that houses them, and they often have a pharmacy as well. These retail clinics may be easy to find and get parking for, since the host retailer will usually be prominent in an urban or suburban area and will have ample parking space for shoppers. This can be very convenient for someone who needs flu medicine or a drug prescription refill, for example.
Urgent Care and Illness
What might bring someone to an urgent care center today? These clinics treat a wide variety of illness and injury. Four out of five such clinics may treat bone fractures, for example, and many of them can also treat ankle sprains or wrist sprains. And given how nearly 25,000 Americans suffer ankle sprains every day, it is clear why these clinics are popular for relief. Surface cuts may get disinfectant and stitches at urgent care centers, and this may happen if a patient had stepped on broken glass, for example. These clinics might also provide relief for broken fingers or toes, and can offer crutches for those who suffer from ankle sprains and bandages and braces. Other issues such as allergies or food poisoning may be treated here as well, and clinics can provide medicine, ointment, or lotions for skin issues such as rashes from plants or allergies.
Illness can also be treated at an urgent care clinic, and the common cold and flu affect many millions of Americans per year, prompting visits to an urgent care center. There, patients may get relief for the cold or flu, as well as relief from upper respiratory problems, which are very common. Americans often suffer from urinary tract infections, or UTIs, per year, and they often visit doctors for this, which may include a visit to an urgent care center first for relief.