Over the last few years, the number of urgent care facilities has risen dramatically in order to support the overused infrastructure of the Emergency Room system.
Now I am sure that many readers already know how overcrowded and expensive emergency rooms can be. Two years ago I broke my arm while riding my skateboard to work and it took eight hours for a doctor to see me. Because emergency rooms have so many individuals seeking care, and so few professionals available to see them,the waits are painfully long. On the contrary, urgent care services can be a much better option for patients. A little over half of all patients who visit urgent care facilities wait only fifteen minutes and more than three quarters are seen by a physician in under an hour. Beyond the speed of urgent care, the price is also dramatically less; the cost of urgent care treatment is on average one tenth of the price of an emergency room visit.
By having both lower prices and shorter wait times than emergency care facilities, urgent care centers are attracting patients and by doing so, are providing hospital emergency rooms with the support they need.
Now, you are probably wondering what conditions are treated at urgent care centers — well, similarly to an emergency room, urgent care facilities often treat sprains and strains; fractures; upper respiratory illnesses; gastrointestinal conditions such as food poisoning; lacerations; and concussions. But beyond these typical treatment needs, urgent care centers also provide public health services that an emergency room cannot provide. For example, many urgent care facilities are also std testing clinics, that provide same day std testing. By having urgent care centers double as std testing clinics, the number of people with access to this vital piece of health care will rise. This is extremely important in order to ensure that there is not a greater spreading of the disease. Further, one is more likely to get an std test from an urgent care provider they have visited multiple times than traditional std testing clinics that they have never been to before. Further, unlike traditional std testing clinics, users of urgent care services know that these facilities operate on a walk in basis and have convenient hours, which increases their likelihood of popping in.
Now, you are probably wondering how much std testing clinics charge for a test. The numbers range; for example there are both free std testing centers, and on the other hand, there are some std testing clinics that will charge you as much as $600. I would suggest using the internet to browse different std testing centers in your area, and possibly call the clinics in order to get a quote on the price of a test.
The rise of urgent care centers is a public health initiative that will reduce the strain on the overworked emergency room infrastructure and, for many, will provide greater access to health care, for instance by providing the same services as std testing clinics. Read more articles like this.
