It?s the height of flu season and the bug has hit your house. Most people don?t think about where to go for medical care until illness strikes, and in a crisis, it can be difficult to make good decision. Fortunately there are urgent care centers springing up across the country for treatment of illnesses and injuries that are immediate but not emergencies. They also offer a range of other services including immunization, travel health and diagnostics.

Flu season is here
This is the flu and cold season and it seems like the world is a merry-go-round of infection. As many as 5 to 10% of the population gets the flu every season. And between them, Americans get a billion colds each year. Children make up a good part of this number, because they get as many as six to ten colds each year.
Many people haven?t really planned on falling sick and when it does happen, they have to scramble to figure out where to go for medical care. Urgent care clinics treat the flu, colds, spree throats, stomach aches, fractures, wounds and much more. They also offer immunizations, and tips on how to prevent the spread of infection.

Where to go for medical care
The earliest urgent care centers were set up in the 1970s. Because they meet the need for non-emergency immediate care, their numbers have been growing ever since. At the present time, there are 6,800 walk in clinics in the U.S., and about 3 million people use their services each week. Their popularity is due to the fact that they offer a convenient alternative to a stressful visit to the emergency room.
Urgent care centers have to meet certain standards to qualify for the name. They are open seven days a week and offer extended hours. The staff includes physicians, nurses, and technicians. They also have diagnostic services onsite, and dispensaries for prepackaged doses.

You don?t have to wait hours to see a doctor
Any illness or injury is a difficult time. With a headache, fever and possibly body aches, it?s difficult for the sufferer to figure out where to go for medical care. With the large number of urgent care clinics around the country, there bound to be one in the neighborhood. For a number of reasons, urgent care is a much better choice for illnesses like the flu.
For one thing, wait times are much shorter at urgent cares than in emergency rooms. Most people wait only about twenty minutes to see a doctor, and most visits can be concluded in an hour. Further, the cost of treatment is much higher in an emergency setting, even for treating the same condition, than it would be in an urgent care facility.

For illnesses like the flu, colds, stomach bugs and other conditions that are not life-threatening emergencies, urgent care clinics are the best choice in terms of where to go for medical care. They are conveniently located, staffed by qualified physicians and staff, and the wait times are negligible. They also offer onsite diagnostics and dispensaries, to make the entire experience as seamless and painless as possible.