You have an illness or an injury that needs medical attention, and it’s the weekend, so your regular doctor isn’t an option. In most cases, you’re left with a couple of options: the emergency room or urgent care. So how do you know which of those paths to take?
At Woodstock Family Practice & Urgent Care, here are the guidelines we offer our patients when they ask us whether to choose between the ER and urgent care.
Illnesses and injuries tend to happen at unexpected and inconvenient times, leaving you no time to make an appointment with your doctor. If you’re experiencing a life-threatening emergency (such as chest pain or trouble breathing), you obviously should go to the nearest emergency room for treatment.
But if you’re dealing with a situation that needs quick treatment but isn’t life-threatening (such as strep throat or a sprained ankle), urgent care providers offer you prompt medical attention.
Sure, you could go to the emergency room for your sprained ankle, but treatment there is based on levels of need, so you’re likely going to wait a long time to get care while the medical providers handle true emergencies first.
Urgent care fills the gap between the ER and your primary care provider, who may be unavailable because their schedule is full or your injury hasn’t occurred during their regular hours. With more than 14,000 urgent care centers across the United States, you’re probably not far from one.
Here are a couple of good examples of what warrants an urgent care visit. Maybe your child comes home from school complaining of a sore throat and running a fever. You think they may have strep throat, but it’s too late in the day to see their pediatrician, and you want them to get started on antibiotics right away.
An urgent care provider runs a quick strep test and sends a prescription to the pharmacy so your child can start their medicine that night, speeding up the healing process.
Or it’s the weekend and you accidentally cut your finger with a sharp knife while prepping dinner. You know you need stitches, but you don’t want to spend hours in the emergency room. An urgent care facility takes care of you right away.
Among the many other conditions that Dr. James Lee and the team treat are allergies, asthma, coughs and colds, ear infections, cuts and lacerations, sprains and strains, and minor fractures. We also run lab work as needed and can perform a variety of diagnostic tests on site.
If anyone in your household needs immediate medical attention, our team at Woodstock Family Practice & Urgent Care is always ready to help. Walk-ins to our Woodstock, Georgia, office are welcome anytime.
You can also call us at 770-927-7857 with any questions, or book a same-day appointment with our online scheduler.
