If you ever find yourself in need of medical attention in Arizona, consider yourself relatively fortunate. You have several options and you can rest assured that all of them will have you feeling better in no time.

The Scottsdale Medical Center is the only hospital in the Greater Phoenix area to earn the 2009 Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals National Benchmarks Award, which recognizes facilities that deliver quality and efficient care.

Sometimes though, a large hospital such as this is not needed. Visiting an urgent care in phoenix is a much better option than the North Phoenix Medical Clinic. Almost 6.8 million bones are broken every year in the United States. If every one of those people visited a major hospital, it would cause unnecessary crowding. A 24 hour urgent care would be more appropriate. Scottsdale urgent care would be only a short distance away, and you may be attended to much faster. The Urgent Care Association of America estimates that 57 percent of patients only wait 15 minutes, and 80 percent of visits are under an hour.

Another advantage to a 24 hour urgent care is the fact that they are available 24 hours. It is estimated that a mere 29 percent of primary care doctors offer after hours coverage. This difference could be very helpful in a pinch.

Then there is the cost. A typical emergency room visit at the Paradise valley medical center may cost over a thousand dollars. A trip to Urgent Care averages under two hundred dollars. This does not mean that the care is necessarily inferior. Over 65 percent of centers are staffed by physicians, nurse practitioners or physician assistants, and 65 percent of centers have at least one physician in the building at all times.

There are times when a trip to the hospital is unavoidable, but other times a less drastic course is required. So if you have a broken arm and you have a choice between the Scottsdale Medical Center and the 24 hour Urgent Care Scottsdale, consider urgent care.