It is 8:30 on a quiet Sunday evening and your two-year-old has a fever and seems to be developing an upper respiratory infection.
Your pediatrician's office will not open for another twelve hours.
The fever and infection are not serious enough to warrant an ER visit, but you still want a physician to evaluate her that evening.
Where do you turn? Urgent care centers may be your best solution because they are equipped for exactly these types of situations.
Occupying the place between a clinic office and the emergency room, these centers - also known as walk-in clinics - prevent emergency room visits and offer treatment when your primary care doctor is not available.
Walk-in clinics treat serious illnesses or injuries that need immediate attention but are not life threatening.
Many urgent care facilities provide services including but not limited to oRespiratory illness oHeadaches oSore throats oSprains oFractures oCommon cold oFlu symptoms oBurns oCuts oEye infections oPulled or strained muscles oCoughs oChildhood illnesses oSkin infections oWork and auto injuries While the purpose of urgent care is not to treat critical-care patients, it does occasionally happen.
In those cases, the clinics are equipped to stabilize patients until an ambulance arrives.
An important aspect of urgent care facilities is that it is less expensive than the ER, a little more expensive than the doctor's office, but still provides quality care on a walk-in basis.
Because urgent care patients are seen on a first-come, first-served basis, they cannot expect to get in and out in fifteen minutes.
But the physicians and nurses do work to serve everyone as quickly and efficiently as possible.
The point is to get medical help when the regular options are not available to you.