Pediatrician or Urgent Care: Where to Go When Your Child is Sick - Legacy ER

When your child becomes ill or injured, there’s probably nothing you wouldn’t do for them. You’d move mountains just to get them the care they require. But sometimes, you may not be so sure about what type of care will be in their best interests. In true medical emergencies, the emergency room is your best resource. But when they have a bad cold, sprain an ankle, or are experiencing out-of-the-ordinary symptoms, it can be hard to know exactly what kind of comprehensive specialized pediatric care they need.

The main question at hand: should you phone your child’s regular physician in hopes of finding an open appointment slot, or should you head to a children’s walk in clinic to be seen quickly? While there’s no real substitute for the familiarity your child’s pediatrician can provide, there are a lot of reasons you may want to opt for urgent care instead.

You may want to consider a pediatric urgent care center when…

• You can’t secure a same-day appointment with your pediatrician: Your pediatrician’s office likely has a lot of patients to handle on a daily basis. While some may be able to offer an appointment on the same day you call, many of the more popular offices might not have a slot right away. That could force you to wait on seeking out the proper care for your child. If the office is able to provide an appointment, it may not be with your child’s regular doctor. While the quality of the visit may be comparable, this can be a bit frustrating for some families. One of the many urgent care benefits, however, is that you can always be seen the same day you come in. Although some urgent care centers do accept appointments ahead of time, it’s certainly not necessary. That means you aren’t forced to wait until the doctor has an opening; you can be seen right then and there.
• You don’t think your child should wait: With broken bones and suspected flu cases, it’s not advisable to wait a day or even several hours to be seen. That said, these cases might not be serious enough to warrant an expensive trip to the ER. For many parents, the urgent care benefits are clear. When your child needs treatment right away (even if you can get a same-day appointment with your doctor), it’s often a good idea to go to your urgent care center. Since 92% of U.S. urgent care facilities maintained wait times of less than 30 minutes in 2015, you can rest assured that your child will be seen and treated more quickly than nearly any other medical alternative.
• You aren’t able to rearrange your entire schedule: When you make a last-minute appointment with your pediatrician, you essentially have to accept what’s offered to you. That means you may not be able to go on your lunch break, after work, or before you have to leave for the office in the morning. That can create a lot of complications for your professional life and for your family. Because one of the many urgent care benefits is fast wait times, you won’t be forced to switch your entire schedule around just to get your child the care they need. You can easily go at a time that’s convenient for you, rather than having to jump through hoops to fit your physician’s appointment book.

There are countless urgent care benefits that can allow your family to receive fast, competent treatment. If you’re dealing with a non-emergency situation but need medical attention quickly, you’ll receive the convenient medical treatment you need at an urgent care center.