There are many different urgent care or immediate care centers, around 6,800 of them just in the United States. Most of them are in freestanding buildings. Urgent care centers accept walk ins, which is one of the reasons for their growing popularity. For minor injuries, or illnesses that require medical care but are not emergencies, urgent care centers may be the best solution.

Urgent care facilities are open longer, and more convenient, hours than traditional physicians offices. There is even 24 hour urgent care scottsdale, as well as around the clock urgent care in Phoenix and other cities in the U. S. The wait at an urgent care center is usually shorter than it is at a hospital emergency room. In fact, when people who have minor, non emergent injuries go to urgent care centers, they get seen faster and also allow the emergency room patients to be seen a little bit quicker (since there are fewer non emergent cases waiting ahead of them).

Urgent care centers offer a variety of services, and can help with anything from minor injuries such as sprains to mild illnesses to rapid std testing. The personnel at the urgent care centers are required to follow all of the same privacy regulations for patient confidentiality. Patients who are there for private matters such as rapid std testing are treated with discretion, just as they would be at a traditional doctors office.