Urgent care clinics refer to a category of walk-in clinics that concentrate on the delivery of mobile service to various medical facilities outside the convention emergency department. Urgent care facilities play an essential role in the healthcare industry in the sense that they free the emergency rooms resources as well as money that goes into addressing the real emergency in the healthcare industry. The facilities handle immediate situations even though not life-threatening ones such as strains and sprains that occur regularly ( Villaseñor & Krouse, 2016). Hospitals have wasted resources in addressing the non-life threatening situation to the extent that when the real emergencies occur, they lack the means of handling the situation. Overall, urgent care clinics have created rooms in the healthcare industry and enhanced their capacity to deal with the emergency without feeling the pressure from non-life threatening cases.
Urgent care clinics also bear great significance in the healthcare delivery system in a sense they have taken healthcare services close to the people. Most hospitals target densely populated places, which explain why the majority of the healthcare facilities fall within cities and major towns. Arguably, locating the healthcare facilities in urban centers and towns limit their access to a given category of individuals who dwell from towns and cities. Urgent care clinics emerged to address that challenge, which explains why most of them fall in isolated places with low population ( Chen, Hu & Mehrotra, 2017). The facilities emerged to enhance healthcare delivery by taking the service close to the people. People can easily access the facilities that have spouted out in various localities. Ideally, urgent care clinics have enhanced convenience in the access to healthcare services that initially had become a challenge, particularly to non-city dwellers.
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Importantly, urgent care clinics have reduced congestion at the various healthcare facilities. People used to travel from far and wide in search of healthcare facilities, and due to the high population of individuals seeking medical care, healthcare facilities used to stretch to the limits. The staff at the various healthcare centers could not cope up with the large numbers of patients seeking various medical services leading to congestion at the medical facilities. Patients had to wait for long periods to receive assistance as the facilities attended to the emergency cases first before addressing the other cases. The Establishment of urgent care clinics provided an alternative to patients who prefer to visit the facilities and get the same service at a faster rate than go waste time in other healthcare facilities ( Chang, Brundage, Burke & Chokshi, 2015). The alternatives reduced congestion in the major hospitals allowing them to deal with cases that required emergency attention. Overall, urgent care clinics have helped reduced congestions in the healthcare facilities by providing alternatives to patients thus allowing the hospitals’ to deal with serious cases that emerge from time to time.
Development of the Urgent Care Clinics
Emergency medical physicians founded the first urgent care clinics, which started operations in the US in the 1970s. The physicians saw the need for urgent care facilities, which would offer similar healthcare service to patients without sacrificing doctors’ qualifications which gave rise to urgent care clinics. The facilities started by providing the basic healthcare service for flues, aches, cold and other minor issues. Urgent care centers have expanded rapidly since their beginning, and now they pride themselves of having over 10,000 locations in the various States in the U.S with best-qualified doctors ( Shamji, Baier, Gravenstein & Gardner, 2014). The facilities have since increased the services they offer by a huge margin. Notably, the facilities treat colds, burns, cuts, bites, strains, and sprains among others. Important to note is that the facilities provide physical testing for STDs as well as digital x-rays. The facilities recorded upper respiratory condition as the most common diagnosis while wound repair stood as the most common procedure that the facilities handled.
Reasons for their Rapid Development
Urgent care clinics have developed rapidly throughout the U.S due to some factors including their cost-effectiveness. Patients with non-life threatening conditions visit the urgency care clinics and save the costs of admission to emergency rooms in hospitals. The individuals end up spending roughly half the cost they would have incurred by visiting hospitals for procedures and treatment of minor cases. The costs of traveling to visit the hospital and also admission come into effect when visiting hospitals ( Le & Hsia, 2016). Patients can now visit urgent care centers and receive similar care at affordable prices, and after that go back home at their convenience without experiencing the usual long waiting lines in mainstream hospitals. Overall, reduction in the costs of accessing quality healthcare services has increased the popularity of the urgent care clinics making them peoples’ favorite over the years.
Equally important to note is that the urgency care clinics offer convenience to patients, unlike hospitals where patients have to book appointments for them to see a doctor. Urgent care centers allow patients to visit a doctor without the need of securing an earlier appointment ( Abousayed, Johnson & Rosenbaum, 2018). The facilities enjoy the services of qualified doctors, and since they have low populations, individuals can see the doctor any time they visit. The facilities also do not have long queues witnessed in major hospitals, which enable patients to take the shortest time possible to access medical care. Quick access to medical attention has also helped contain cases or conditions that would have escalated due to delays in treatment and also relieves the patient of pain without wasting much time.
Urgent care clinics have also developed rapidly in the health care industry due to their flexible working hours. The facilities open weekdays and during the day and extend into the evening and weekends. Those working hours allows individuals who have busy work schedules to get medical attention during lunch breaks and evening breaks. Importantly, the facilities have no congestion, which makes it easy for individuals using lunch breaks to get medical care, which would not have been possible in the hospitals. Broadly, urgent care clinics have provided a solution to the problem of time that many people lack in seeking medical care due to their convenience and cost-effectiveness ( Abousayed, Johnson & Rosenbaum, 2018). Increasing populations have also exerted pressure on the existing medical facilities, which cannot cope with the surging number of patients. Urgent care clinics took advantage of the opportunity to provide the same service at the local level leading to their rapid growth. The facilities decided to take medical services to the people as opposed to the hospitals that wait for the people to take them their health challenges.
Literature Review on Urgent Care Clinic
Abelson & Creswell (2018) i ndicates that with urgent care clinics gaining popularity with each passing day, more and more people stream into the facilities in shopping centers and malls to have simple health needs attended to within the shortest time possible. Health professionals like physician assistants and nurse practitioners offer services to people at considerably lower prices than the doctors’ charge on a regular day. The author indicates that the current 12,000 urgent care clinics scattered across the country prove that they have become the favorite for the masses. Further, the article states that office visits paid to primary care doctors registered a decline of 18 percent in a span of 4 years from 2012 to 2016 while visits paid to specialists increased significantly ( Abelson & Creswell, 2018). The author observes that the primary care doctor has lived under siege for many years. The extended working hours and the low pay have changed family practices or pediatric into unattractive options for the upcoming physicians.
Doctors now opt to start their urgent care services as a way of keeping alive their careers in the wake of increasing urgent care clinics in various parts of the country. Multinational corporations such as Walmart and Humana have plans to start offering private medical care. The corporations plan to use their retailer’s stores to expand the current 19 clinics to make them one-stop medical care ( Abelson & Creswell, 2018). Notably, Walmart stores have already started offering pharmacy services, which have attracted thousands of older people. The author notes that patients have vacated the traditional hospitals for the urgent care facilities for treatment of minor cases that do not require the attention of the major hospitals. They also visit urgent care clinics to save on costs since the facilities provide cost-effective healthcare services and also offer convenience
Major corporations have recently shown interest in establishing urgent care clinics all over the country. For instance, Starr Investment Holdings has recently invested in Convenient MD, an urgent care provider that offers its services in the New England region ( Cooper, 2018). The increased partnerships between major corporations and medical care facilities have set the latest trend in urgent care clinics. Corporations have ventured into such partnerships to exploit the untapped potential in the healthcare industry and also as a way of giving back to society. The corporations believe that providing healthcare services to the public offers a way of appreciating them for their loyalty over the years. The corporations change their idling retail stores located in various states into urgent care clinics equipping them with the modern medical equipment, which enhance the quality of their services. The author indicates that urgent care clinics have become the new business venture for major corporations who might want to divert their capital into new business ventures. Notably, the urgent care facilities started by the corporations have flourished due to their high quality of service as the owners invest heavily on medical equipment and on hiring competent staff all to stem competition from hospitals and other established medical institution.
According to "Latticework Backs Xpress Wellness Urgent Care," (2018) , physicians have opted to work in urgent care clinics due to their flexible nature that allows doctors to strike a balance between work and life. The author indicates that the choice of doctors to move from hospitals to work in urgent care clinics hinges on the basis that the facilities do not have an on-call schedule, no limited weekend and no nights. Individuals venture into urgent care facilities to enjoy the relaxed plans that can allow them to venture in their activities or businesses. Importantly, the author observes that doctors have shifted from major hospitals into urgent care facilities to escape the workload that characterizes many hospitals. Long queues of patients found in the hospitals only mean more work for the doctors. Burn out effect explains why many doctors also experience a change of mind and decide to cross over and offer their services at urgent care facilities. Work overload over a prolonged period leads to burn out among the practitioners many who do not have work leaves, and for those who have them, then they have to contend with shorter ones.
Impact of Urgent Care Clinics in Future
Urgent care clinics will lead to the collapse of the hospitals because they offer affordable medical services to the patient. The difficult economic times compel individuals to save the little cash that they can, which explains why many people have opted to go to the urgent care clinics. The hospitals will experience a lack of patients except for emergency cases that require theatre procedures. Lack of patients will impact on their ability to collect revenue, which is essential for sustenance. Hospital revenue helps in paying the staff and in acquiring medical equipment, which keeps changing as a result of innovations that render the older ones obsolete ( Schuur, Yealy & Callaham, 2017). Medical equipment changes from time to time even as the industry launches new equipment daily to deal with various cases of changing disease strains.
Urgent care clinics will cause the mass exit of medical practitioners from main hospitals in the urgent care facilities due to the flexibility of the services that they offer. Urgent care clinics provide equal pay to nurses and assistant doctors that hospitals pay their counterparts, but the individuals working for urgent care facilities work for less time ( Augustine, 2018). People desire to have time for socialization and engaging in activities that promote personal growth, and urgent care clinics provide such a requirement. Equally important to note is the fact that urgent care clinics will enhance the quality of medical care service to the public leading to overall good health. The urgent care clinics continue to sprout in various parts of the country closer and closer to people meaning individuals no longer need to suffer from ailments as they await doctors appointment as it was the case before, but walk to the nearest urgent care facility and have their issue addressed within the shortest time possible. In summary, the urgent care clinics will improve healthcare through the provision of cost-effective medical care and due to their convenience in terms of location and amount of time taken for patients to receive the type of care that they wanted.
Noteworthy, the urgent care clinics will reduce the cost of healthcare in the future. The increasing number of the healthcare clinic around the country will form a recipe for a fierce competition amongst the facilities and to remain relevant or to attract clients, they will have to reduce their costs to the lowest levels possible. Low costs will act as the motivating factor for patients to visit one facility and avoid the other one. The quality of service determines which facility survives the competition as patients will look out for facilities that have the best possible equipment for delivering quality service but at a lower cost ( Augustine, 2018). In summary, the growing number of urgent care clinics will give rise to a fierce competition, which will narrow down to costs and quality of service. The effects of the competition will be people enjoying low medical costs as compared to the current situation where patients pay exorbitantly for the same costs.
5. Staffing Policies
Adopting cross-cultural recruitment
Urgent care clinics have become the favorite alternative to many people seeking medical care service. Taking an intercultural recruitment policy ensures that the facility enjoys the cultural diversity that will enable smooth service delivery to individuals from across the diverse cultural divide ( Augustine, 2018). Importantly, having staff from different cultural background increases employees’ experiences and the exchange of ideas amongst them. The cultural diversity also promotes cohesion and positive relations that play a significant role in the delivery of quality services to the patients. Overall, the urgent care clinics provide services to people from diverse cultural backgrounds and thus diversifying the staff will ensure that patients feel comfortable during the service as they will have an opportunity of receiving the service from a staff who understands and appreciate their cultural practices.
Rewarding Longer Serving Staffs
Most of the urgent care clinics experience a high rate of staff turnover due to competition that has arisen in recent years amongst the entities. Introducing the employee reward system motivates most them to stay at the organization and offer their services ( Augustine, 2018). Experienced employees add quality of service delivery to the organization, which goes along in attracting clients. In addition, the organization will provide employees with competitive remuneration to ensure that they feel compensated for the services that they provide. Most organizations lose employees to their rivals due to poor pay, the very problem that the organization will have avoided altogether.
Offering Mandatory Annual Refresher Courses
The medical field remains one of the most dynamic in the world considering that innovation and discoveries keep popping every day. Refresher courses will enable employees to keep up to date with the changing medical technology and medical care practices. Patients pay close attention to small details such as the nature of the service they receive from the practitioners. Refresher courses will also enable staff to update themselves with the current workplace practices in the wake of adopting universal healthcare. Broadly, refresher courses allow employees to understand the current trends in the medical field, which will go into improving service delivery at the urgent care clinic ( Augustine, 2018). Overall, the staff will have agreed to take the refresher courses beforehand to avoid a situation where individuals feel compelled to participate in an exercise that does not.
References
Abelson, R., & Creswell, J. (2018). The Disappearing Doctor: How Mega-Mergers Are Changing the Business of Medical Care. New York Times . Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/07/health/health-care-mergers-doctors.html
Abousayed, M., Johnson, C., & Rosenbaum, A. (2018). Trends in Urgent Care Utilization Following Ankle Fracture Fixation. Foot & Ankle Orthopaedics , 3 (3), 2473011418S00136.
Augustine, J. J. (2018). The Transformation of Emergency Care in the United States. FUTURE SCAN™ , 27.
Chang, J., Brundage, S. C., Burke, G., & Chokshi, D. A. (2015). Convenient care: Retail clinics and urgent care centers in New York State.
Chen, C. E., Chen, C. T., Hu, J., & Mehrotra, A. (2017). Walk‐in clinics versus physician offices and emergency rooms for urgent care and chronic disease management. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews , (2).
Cooper, L. (2018). Starr Investment Holdings Invests In ConvenientMD. WSJ PRO . Retrieved from https://www.wsj.com/articles/starr-investment-holdings-invests-in-convenientmd-1541106584?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=5
Ho, V. (2018). Are freestanding emergency departments (EDs) the same as urgent care centers?. Health Policy Research , 13 (1).
Latticework Backs Xpress Wellness Urgent Care. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.wsj.com/articles/latticework-backs-xpress-wellness-urgent-care-1542307543?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=2
Le, S. T., & Hsia, R. Y. (2016). Community characteristics associated with where urgent care centers are located: a cross-sectional analysis. BMJ Open , 6 (4), e010663.
Schuur, J. D., Yealy, D. M., & Callaham, M. L. (2017). Comparing Freestanding Emergency Departments, Hospital-Based Emergency Departments, and Urgent Care in Texas: Apples, Oranges, or Lemons?. Annals Of Emergency Medicine , 70 (6), 858-861.
Shamji, H., Baier, R. R., Gravenstein, S., & Gardner, R. L. (2014). Improving the quality of care and communication during patient transitions: Best practices for urgent care centers. The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety , 40 (7), 319-324.
Villaseñor, S., & Krouse, H. J. (2016). Can the use of urgent care clinics improve access to care without undermining continuity in primary care?. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners , 28 (6), 335-341.
