What is urgent care?
Urgent care is medical care that Physicians Medical Urgent Care offers for when you need treatment right now for minor and moderate illnesses, wounds, and infections. Urgent care is an expedient, affordable alternative to the emergency room in non-life-threatening situations.
Physicians Medical Urgent Care offers treatment for a variety of acute and chronic conditions, including:
- Allergic reactions
- Insect bites
- Sinusitis
- Vaginitis
- Pneumonia
- Fever
- Sore throat and strep throat
- Vomiting
- Nausea
- Rash
- Back pain
- Pink eye
- Diarrhea
- Ear infections
- Sprains and strains
- Abscesses and wounds
- Lacerations
- Headaches and migraines
- Upper respiratory infections
- Urinary tract infections
- Mononucleosis
- Sexually transmitted infections
- Asthma attacks
- Mild concussions
The practice also offers diagnostic testing and in-house radiology, including X-rays. With a top-of-the-line pulmonary function test (PFT) machine, they can test your lung function.
When should I choose the emergency room?
Sometimes, urgent care isn’t the right answer, because it isn’t equipped to address your situation. If you’re dealing with any of the following symptoms or scenarios, seek emergency room (ER) care, not urgent care, immediately.
- Severe chest pain, especially chest pain that radiates to the jaw or arm
- Paralysis
- Weakness on one side of the body
- Sudden severe headaches
- Sudden loss of sight
- Sudden difficulty understanding speech or speaking
- Intestinal bleeding
- Car accident accompanied by airbag deployment
- Uncontrolled vomiting
- Rash accompanied by high fever
- Severe burns
- Bleeding while on blood thinners
Also, if you have an infant under four months of age who develops a fever, take them into the ER for care.
What is the difference between urgent care and the ER?
Urgent care treats non-life-threatening conditions that you need to address immediately, or that occur outside of regular family practice hours.
Emergency room care, in contrast, treats patients with serious and potentially fatal conditions, such as heart attack, stroke, and traumatic injuries.
Every year in the United States, approximately 40% of people who visit an ER could have visited an urgent care center instead, and received the same treatment with shorter wait times and much smaller resulting medical bills.
At the emergency room, which is typically overcrowded, you may end up waiting for upwards of three to four hours before anyone sees you. Physicians Medical Urgent Care, on the other hand, typically see patients within minutes of their arrival.
If you have a non-life threatening emergency, head to Physicians Medical Urgent Care for quick and compassionate treatment. Connect with the practice online or via the online booking tool, or simply walk-in.
