The Walk In Medical Clinic - The Excellent Alternative

If you haven't availed yourself of the walk in medical clinic, you make one of two choices when you need to see a doctor. One, you make an appointment. Unfortunately, doctors are typically very busy and you may not be able to get in for a week or two, and even that is only if you're lucky. Your second option is to go to the hospital's emergency room, which is never a fun idea. Unless you're actively in the middle of dying, you're in for a long wait at the ER. Thankfully, private enterprise saw a hole and rushed to fill it. This excellent alternative may be just what you've been looking for.

Function
The medical clinic specializing in walk in business is often said to function as a midpoint between the ER and a long-term doctor's appointment. And at that function, it excels. Some are more extensive than others, but you'll find at least one doctor and one nurse at even the smallest, most understaffed facility. Others have become nearly as large as hospitals, with doctors of nearly every specialty keeping offices on the premises. Generally speaking, however, these businesses tend to be on the smaller size. They are there to treat your colds, your minor broken bones, and your sprained ankles. They are not there to treat heart attacks, gunshot wounds, and other major, life threatening incidents.

Differences

To make the point clearly, a medical clinic of this type does not have the facilities, the staff, nor the state regulatory requirements to treat patients with life threatening injuries or illnesses. For those purposes, you should always call 911 or visit the hospital's emergency room. Beyond that caveat, however, the differences between an urgent care facility and the emergency room are obvious in the way they take patients. In the ER, patients are made to wait according to the severity of their complaint. On a busy enough night, it's conceivable that someone with a broken hand or a cold would never get in to see the doctor. This isn't the case at a walk in facility, where patients are treated on a strict first come, first served basis.

Expense

You can almost certainly expect a medical clinic to cost far less than one would pay at the emergency room. In many cases, the costs are even less than it would be to make an appointment with a general physician. It is certainly cheaper than seeing a specialist. Obviously, if you have insurance, you'll want to make sure the facility you choose is a participating member of your network plan.