Emergency Medical Clinics and the Services They Provide
When someone is experiencing the symptoms of an illness or has sustained an injury, it’s important to seek the assistance of a medical professional. Since there are local medical walk in clinics available to treat a wide range of illnesses and injuries, there’s no need avoid receiving medical attention. Furthermore, these types of medical walk in clinics can also provide preventative care such as flu and travel vaccinations.
Many Americans experience chronic pain to the extent that it impacts their daily lives. Low back pain, for example, affects approximately 69% of people within the United States. While four out of ten people exercise in an attempt to alleviate this pain, others may not do anything and continue to suffer. It’s been shown that a minimum of 40% of the people experiencing chronic back pain haven’t seen a physician or physical therapist to address their situation.
Another benefit to visiting a local medical clinic is that their staff can provide a variety of physical therapy services. In addition to having physical therapy equipment, they are also able to evaluate and discuss treatment options and provide recommendations for knee and other types of joint pain. These clinics can also provide their clients with a wide variety of beneficial occupational health services.
When infants and young children become ill or injured, it’s important to note that there are pediatric emergency rooms located in some urgent care clinics. When an infant or child has a high fever that won’t go down, for example, it’s likely that they may require medical intervention to lower their fever. Since there may be several reasons why an infant or child has a high fever, it’s important to them to be evaluated by a physician.
If a child has fallen off of their bicycle and fractured their ankle or arm, four out of five urgent care centers will be able to provide fracture care. These types of injuries may also be treated at a pediatric emergency room, particularly if they sustain a more serious fracture. Sprains and strains can also be treated at these facilities. Furthermore, since many of these facilities also have an imaging department, there X-rays and other types of imaging services can be provided by a pediatric emergency room.
Currently, there are 20,000 physicians that practice urgent care medicine, and it is predicted that many more will chose this growing specialty. Since 85% of urgent care centers are open throughout the entire week, it’s not surprising that they see a large number of patients on a weekly basis. According to the Urgent Care Association of America, three million individuals visit these centers every week. Given that these facilities are conveniently located and are open throughout the week, when people need medical care, urgent care centers can provide a welcome option to traditional hospital emergency room visits.