The Urgent Care Trend and the Need for Board Certification in Urgent Care Medicine
For several years, descriptions of the healthcare system in the United States have included phrases such as “serious emergency room overcrowding,” “unraveling safety net,” and “emergency medicine in crisis.” Every year, more than 119 million patients visit hospital emergency departments, and approximately 40 percent of those patients have conditions that do not require high-level emergency care. The steadily increasing need for immediate care in this country has resulted in overcrowded emergency rooms in nearly every community. For a variety of reasons, many people chose emergency rooms to receive prompt care for medical needs which arise suddenly. With so many people seeking care, the crisis mounts.