The first urgent care clinic came into being back in the year of 2000, now nearly 20 full years in the past. In the time that has elapsed since, the popularity of the walk in clinic has skyrocketed. By the time we had reached the year of 2016, there were already more than 7,000 urgent care centers and walk in clinics to be found all throughout the United States. In the years since, this number has only continued to grow and now upwards of 20,000 local doctors are employed at such clinics all throughout the United States. After all, these doctors are very much needed to meet the patient load of up to three million people per week, a number that has only continued to grow and grow with the passage of time.

Of course, the popularity of urgent care centers is due to many different factors. For one thing, the convenience of the urgent care is not to be underestimated. After all, the fact that 85% of all walk in clinic locations are open each and every day of the week is most certainly a compelling one, as this means that people can seek timely and affordable medical care even during weekends and holidays, something that is certainly not always readily possible when it comes to going to a general care practitioner’s office. For many people, avoiding the emergency room, with its high costs and long waiting periods, is also of vital importance, to say the very least.

A medical walk in clinic can also provide all kinds of care, from injury care to the assessment and treatment of various illnesses. It is important to look, however, at the role that an urgent care location can play in providing preventative care as well. The provision of STD testing by walk in clinics is just one example of such. After all, STD testing matters quite a lot and can play a key and critical role in one’s health. This is so much the case that STD testing is actually recommended for everyone who is sexually active. For women, visiting a gynecologist is likely a good time to get STD testing done along with the rest of the typical check up. However, not everyone – not even all women, for that matter – will even have access to STD testing in this manner. Therefore, the role of the medexpress urgent care location providing STD testing is hugely important and not to be discounted. After all, STD testing that reveals and STD might save a person’s life – or at least allow them to better take care of their body and overall health far better than would be possible if STD testing did not exist.

Aside from STD testing, there are other ways in which the average medical clinic can help to provide preventative care. The flu shot is yet another great example of such regular health care that we should all take advantage of. After all, the flu itself is certainly no joke, with up to one fifth of all people in the United States contracting it during particularly severe flu seasons. And while many people consider the flu to be not all that much more serious than the common cold, this is quite far from the truth indeed. As a matter of fact, the flu can kill – especially when it is contracted by those who fall into one or more high risk population. Therefore, getting the flu shot can be lifesaving just as can getting STD testing. And while getting a flu shot will never provide 100% protection, it is also true that some level of protection is most certainly better than having none at all. And even if you do contract the flu at some point after getting the flu shot, you will be able to fight it off more easily, as your chances of contracting some of the more nasty complications it can lead to will be dramatically lowered indeed.

At the end of the day, we cannot discount the important and ever growing role played by urgent care locations all throughout the country.