With three million patient visits each week, urgent care clinics have become well established as the alternative to emergency room care for non-life threatening conditions. Urgent care centers offer a convenient location for the treatment of most common injuries and illnesses. Over 85% of urgent care centers are open on weekends as well as during the week, and staff includes highly qualified physicians, physicians aides, emergency room nurses and technicians.

Common conditions treated at urgent care clinics
Walk in clinics treat conditions and injuries like colds, coughs, wounds, fractures, chronic pains, infections etc. With 20,000 doctors practicing urgent care at clinics across the country, there is always a qualified physician to attend to patients as necessary. The staff includes trained emergency room nurses to help with urgent conditions. The commonest conditions that walk in clinics deal with are upper respiratory condition, and the commonest procedure is wound repair, as of 2012.

Some common conditions treated at urgent care clinics include the following:

• Dizziness
  Dizziness is a very common condition and can have many different causes. It is the commonest condition seen in doctor’s offices. As many as 70% of the population will experience dizziness at some point in their their lives. In the older generation, among people 60 years of age or older, as many as 65% experience dizziness and loss of balance, sometimes on a daily basis.
  Urgent care clinics have trained medical staff including emergency room nurses to support patients suffering from dizziness, nausea etc., stabilizing their condition until the causes can be diagnosed and treated.
• Chronic pain
  As the Baby Boomers age, some types of medical conditions will become chronic and it is estimated that by 2030, as many as 60% of all Baby Boomers will be living with a chronic condition like back pain. At the present time, 10% of Baby Boomers are forced to limit their physical activity to only a few days a month.
  Chronic pain is a common problem across all groups and as many as 69% of Americans are affected by low back pain in their day-to-day lives. Many people give up on treatment and up to 40% of those suffering from long term lower back pain have not seen a doctor or physical therapist for treatment. Some 40% of sufferers try to use exercise as treatment for lower back pain.
• Fractures and sprains
  Especially among children, fractures and sprains are common types of injuries. Most of these can be treated at walk in clinics, and 80% of all urgent care centers provide fracture care and treatment.
  Sprained ankles, wrists and necks are typical injuries and as many as 25,000 Americans suffer ankle sprain a day. Most ankle sprains – more than 80% of them – are due to inward rolling, or inversion, of the ankle. Most walk in clinics have emergency room nurses on staff to care for sprains and fractures and to make the patient comfortable while treatment is carried out.

With trained and highly qualified staff, onsite diagnostics and even dispensing, walk in clinics are an increasingly popular choice for many common conditions and injuries.