So you are here trying to figure out the difference between a life-threatening emergency that needs the ER and something that is too serious for a normal doctor but not quite ER worthy. That can be difficult. This article is here to help you know what kind of injury should be treated at the Emergency Room and what kind of injury should be taken to Urgent medical care.
Urgent Care is for things that are too serious to wait on a doctor's appointment but not series enough for the Emergency Room, they're walk-in clinics so no appointments you have to make as long as you're okay with waiting up to an hour to see a Doctor. Depending on how many people are in there and how serious your case, it might be longer.
Most reasons people would go to Urgent Care if they had severe nausea, an allergic reaction, if you have had a sore throat for a few days, pain in your back, an ear infection that doesn't seem to be clearing up, a fever that you can't shake, a strange bite from a bug or insect, migraines, and other things like that.
If you have any kind of condition that won't kill you if it's not treated immediately, something that you just need to be taken care of like a sprained ankle, you can go to Urgent Care and they will take care of it and you will be on your way.
A normal doctor's office will examine you, give you a few options as to what could be wrong and send you to a specialist, or they will diagnose the problem and give you a prescription for some medicine from CVS or Walmart.
An Emergency Room are strictly for people in dire conditions, if you have had a heart attack or stroke, if there was a car crash or any sort of bad accident, they will be the ones to take care of you to make sure that you will be back up and running in a few weeks or months.
An Urgent Care Center will take everything in between. If you have sinus problems, if you need an x-ray because you broke your hand but don't quite need the ER because it's not super serious most Urgent Care centers have X-ray machines readily available so they can diagnose what the problem is and help you fix it without having to go to a third party place.
The price is another thing that splits the difference between an ER and Urgent Care. An ER bill is going to be relatively higher than a bill from Urgent Care. So, unless you have a serious life or death situation that you are in, Urgent Care is always the best to go to between the two of these.
So if you have any kind of problem, both physical and internal, that has been causing you some troubles lately and you would rather get it checked out sooner than later and waiting on a Doctor's appointment, or if it's the weekend and you can't wait until Monday, then find out where your local or closest Urgent Care center is because they can help make you feel much better so much sooner. And going to an Urgent Care Center, even if you have to wait a few hours because it's a busy weekend, is much better than sitting at home until Monday because you can't make an appointment with your regular doctor on the weekends.
