Don’t kids have the craziest sense of timing? They seem to never complain about an ache or pain during normal doctor’s office hours. Instead, they come into your room in the middle of the night, or into the kitchen on a sunday afternoon and claim that they need medical attention. And while sometimes these young patients may be putting on a show, more times than not you find yourself in need of urgent care for kids. Whether you are in need of urgent care for kids or adults, it often makes more sense to get the medical help that you need sooner rather than later.
Injured on the weekend!
- Stomach flu like symptoms that have left your youngest son weak. You fear he is nearly dehydrated.
- Ice skating fall that seems to have ended into a sprained ankle. Keeping your fingers crossed that it is not broken.
- Croupy cough that is keeping your infant from getting any sleep.
- Kickball game collision that may have resulted in a concussion.
- Oven burn on your wrist when you were a little to careless getting the holiday turkey out.
- Right wrist injury from a downhill skateboarding ride that went to a little bit out of control.
- Internal temperature of more than 104.
- Night time fever that will not break even after you have tried cool clothes for the last two hours.
- Jet lag that seems to have been lasting too long. You are afraid that the exhaustion you have been experiencing after the
- Uunusual rash that seems to be spreading from your baby daughter?s stomach onto her arms and legs.
- Red swollen circle around an area that looks like it could be the site of a spider bite.
- Exercise induced asthma that has not responded to your daughter?s inhaler.
- Diarrhea that started late on Friday night and has been nearly continuous for 24 hours. Your three year old is getting more and more weak.
- Odd lump that has developed at the site of a puncture wound when your husband was working in his wood shop.
- Night time stomach cramps that do not seem to go away.
- Tonsillitis pain that seems to be getting worse even though your pediatrician prescribed some medicine that should have started working within the first 12 hours.
- Hives that seem to be caused by an allergic reaction to a insect sting.
- Elevated concern about the swelling that has occurred since your son twisted his ankle at his Saturday morning soccer game.
- Weekend warrior injury after your husband spent Sunday afternoon playing football with his friends.
- Eye infection that is causing your vision to be blurry.
- Ear pain that you think might be an indicator of a possible ear infection.
- Knife injury from when you were cutting onions for the big family get together.
- Eye irritation and swelling.
- Nasal congestion that is keeping you from getting even an hour of rest.
- Dehydration caused by excessive vomiting.
The best thing about urgent care for kids, teens, and adults may be its affordability. In fact, emergency room visits can be extremely high when compared to walk-in urgent care costs. For instance, a case that could have been handled in a urgent care for kids or adults that ends up instead at a hospital emergency room costs an average of $2,039. That same case at an urgent care facility might only cost $226.
In addition to being a more economical way to seek medical treatment, urgent care visits can also be more efficient. In some cases it is not even possible to get a same day appointment at a family doctor or pediatrician’s office. An emergency room will, on the other hand, get you in but this is not until the other more serious patients have been treated. And while an ear infection may not be as serious as a neck injury, waiting through the triage protocol in an ER room when you have a young child can be unbearable.
No one really wants to get sick, and no one wants to get hurt. When you do, however, require medical attention, an urgent care setting is often a wise choice. With more than 20,000 physicians practicing Urgent Care Medicine today, urgent care professionals have developed urgent care medicine into an important, recognized specialty platform that represents this fast growing medical field.