EFFECT OF URGENT CARE CENTERS ON EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT WAITING TIME AMONG RIYADH HEALTH CLUSTERS, SAUDI ARABIA.

Urgent care centers (UCCs) are a relatively new site of ambulatory care that has grown steadily over the last few decades. Generally, they are primary care facilities that offer walk-in medical care for a wide variety of urgent, non-emergent conditions that need immediate medical or surgical attention. Urgent care centers are part of the healthcare organization 's rapidly expanding "fulfilled care" category, which includes a wide variety of consumer and population-oriented interventions aimed at timely, easily accessible, and more affordable care. Primarily delivered the care for the cases classified as Level 3, Level 4, and Level 5 - according to a different triage system, throughout the day (24 hours), in shifts based and according to the population need. Health centers that provide urgent care services along with diagnostic, curative, and preventive services, which include radiology, a laboratory, and a pharmacy. Furthermore, referring the patient to the Emergency Rooms or outpatient clinics. The staff working in the urgent care centers are trained with certain competency and adhere to safety and infection control standards within the center.

It is concluded that the urgent care centers play an important role in sharing the burden of the emergencies of the Hospitals. During their opening hours, comparatively lesser number of patients will visit the ED. As a result, they will help to reduces the expenditures of the health care. The convenient access of the patients to these centers in future will further reduce the ED load of patients so that better care will be available for those who truly need it. But overall impact of UCCs on the economy need to be evaluated further.