When you need a flu vaccination or another type of medical treatment, you can visit an urgent care facility for this. In 60% of these facilities, there is usually less than a 15 minute waiting period before you can meet with a physician or mid-level provider, such as a physician’s assistant. It’s also important to note that there is a always a physician on-site at 65% of the urgent care centers that are in operation.
The Urgent Care Association of America conducted a survey that showed 57% of patients waited 15 minutes or less, and 80% of these visits lasted an hour or less. When all you need is to have a flu vaccination, it makes sense to visit an urgent care facility because you’ll be in-and-out in less time.
If you have a busy schedule, you’ll be interested to know that during the week, over 66% of these facilities are open before 9:00 in the morning. Some of these facilities are also available to patients during the weekend. This is the case with 45.7% which are open on Saturday, and 31.1% which are open on Sunday.
Evening hours are also available during the week at most urgent care centers. About 90.6% are open until 7:00 p.m. or later, while 40% may be open until 9:00 p.m. or later. This makes these facilities even more convenient when you have work, family, or other types of obligations.
If you have a medical situation that may require intravenous fluids, 70% of these urgent care centers can provide this treatment for you. Should you sustain a bone fracture, 80% of these facilities can provide care for these and other types of injuries.
Urgent care centers also have other benefits. Roughly 40% of these clinics have the ability to process prescriptions electronically. Given their access to computerized systems, an urgent care clinic medical staff is able to perform these important tasks:
- View lab and imaging results
- Collect patient demographics
- Conduct billing
- Input and retrieve medical condition and procedure coding
- Provide access to clinical notes
If you don’t have a primary care physician, or if your primary care physician’s office is closed, it makes sense to visit an urgent care center rather than the hospital emergency room. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 48% of adults that visited the emergency room weren’t admitted to the hospital because they weren’t ill enough. These individuals had sought care at the emergency room because their physicians’ offices were closed.
When you do have a life-threatening situation, going immediately to the emergency room is vital. However, when you aren’t experiencing this type of issue, then an urgent care center can provide you with the care that you need. Since flu season is approaching, it makes sense to schedule an appointment or walk into a clinic near you for a flu vaccination.