Here in the United States, truly all throughout the country as a whole, urgent care centers have become more important than they have ever been before. After all, there are now more such medical clinics than ever, with more than 7,000 dotted all throughout the country. This marks a considerable growth in recent years, as the first urgent care location was actually first founded less than a full 20 years ago, back in the year of 2000. In the years that are to come, however, the popularity of urgent care locations is likely to grow even more impressively.

After all, there are many benefits to going to such an urgent care center, no matter where it might be found here in the United States. For one thing, the wait times are short, with more than 90% of all such urgent care locations boasting wait times that don’t even exceed a mere half of an hour. In more than 60% of such walk in clinics, the average wait time won’t even surpass an incredibly short 15 minutes. In comparison to the emergency room, this is hugely appealing for many people, as typical emergency room wait times will last, on average, at least one full hour – if not even considerably longer than even that.

In addition to this, urgent care clinics can also provide a great deal of comprehensive medical treatment, more so than the average person might even be aware of. But the data more than backs up this claim, showing that up to 97% of all cases treated in urgent care locations throughout the country are able to be handled at the center in question, with only a scant 3% of all cases needing to ultimately be transferred to an emergency room location. Conversely, up to 65% of all cases handled by emergency rooms throughout the country could have easily and comprehensively been treated by an urgent care doctor instead, as such doctors are fully qualified medical professionals just as much as the doctors that you’ll find in the typical emergency room setting.

And the equipment that urgent care locations have is far more advanced than many realize. For instance, up to 80% of all such walk in clinics here in the United States are actually able to provide treatment and diagnoses for fracture cases, provided that the fracture case is not a hugely complicated one. And with up to 25,000 cases of ankle sprains occurring throughout the country over the course of just one day, urgent care centers are likely to seem many such an injury as well.

Of course, going to an urgent care center is ideal in cases of illness as well. For instance, urinary tract infections can be incredibly painful and even dangerous when left untreated, but are typically cleared up and cured with an easy round of antibiotics. Testing for such infections is quite simple as well, and involves only a urine sample – something that can be taken in the vast majority of all urgent care centers operating here in the United States.

Even preventative medical care can be obtained in urgent care center and walk in clinic locations throughout the country as a whole. Take, for instance, the typical flu shot. A flu shot is simple to get and typically carries no side effects with it, making it ideal for the vast majority of the population. And the flu shot is very important to get, though some people are still quite misinformed on this matter. Getting a flu shot will typically not prevent you from catching the flu 100% of the time, but some level of protection is certainly better than none – and those who get the flu shot but still later contract the flu are much less likely to experience serious complications from it, complications that can range from pneumonia to sepsis and can even all too easily become life threatening.

At the end of the day, urgent care centers provide a hugely important medical resource in communities all throughout the United States. They provide access to comprehensive and thorough medical care without the wait time and price tag of emergency rooms.