When you have an injury, you may be surprised when you can visit urgent care vs. the emergency room. Urgent care centers and emergency rooms are critical in providing medical care. While each has distinct services, there are benefits to urgent care vs. emergency room visits.
Urgent care centers are suitable for non-life-threatening conditions like minor injuries, common illnesses, cuts, sprains, and minor fractures. They provide prompt medical attention and quality care with less stress. Orthopedic urgent care centers, like OrthoOIC are equipped with x-rays and diagnostic tests to provide quality care for urgent situation. If you have a severe injury or life-threatening emergency, such as a heart attack, stroke, major trauma, and severe bleeding, you should visit an emergency room.
Urgent Care centers typically have shorter wait times than emergency rooms. Patients with less severe conditions experience longer waits for treatment of emergent or life-threatening patients in an emergency room. You may consider cost when choosing an urgent care vs. emergency room visit. One of the benefits of urgent care is that trips to urgent care centers are generally more cost-effective than the ER. Location and convenience are benefits of urgent care centers. Urgent care centers are more widespread and often conveniently located in communities. They usually offer extended hours, including evenings and weekends, making them accessible even when primary care offices are closed.
When considering the capabilities of urgent care, orthopedic immediate care centers can handle various medical issues. You can receive ortho emergency care and sports medicine urgent care at OrthoOIC. We are an orthopedic immediate care center, able to provide timely, cost-effective, convenient quality care for injuries that may require specialty evaluation and care. You can schedule an appointment, but we welcome walk-ins for orthopedic immediate care when you are in need.