Urgent care centers provide treatment for the non-life threatening illnesses and injuries that occur on a day-to-day basis. They are equipped to serve the entire family including children and can handle a variety of conditions ranging from sinusitis and pneumonia to lacerations and fractures. Generally, most urgent care centers are open seven days a week with hours extending into the evening. Additionally, patients seeking medical attention or advice should not have to make appointments at urgent care centers.

The urgent care center is a great option if you have an urgent medical condition that you feel needs immediate attention at that time.  If your family doctor is neither available not equipped to handle the situation, urgent care might be a suitable alternative.  WIth the majortiy of the urgent care doctors having extensive emergency room experience, urgent care centers work closely with patients to ensure that all appropriate records are transferred to local family physicians.

There are serveral main differences between urgent care centers and the emergency room.  Emergency rooms are staffed 24 hours a day and are designed to treat patients suffering from life threatening injuries or serious illnesses.  In contrast, urgent care centers are desinged to lighten the load on local emergency rooms by treating non-life threatening injuries (lacerations, mild fractures etc.) and illnesses (earaches, influenza, rashes, etc.) in a patient friendly environment.

The urgent care centers should be used for any non-life threatening medical illness or injury that you deem urgent.  It is best to receive direct attention than waiting hours, days or weeks to be seen.  Since most urgent care centers have extended evening hours beyond those of family doctors, they are excellent options for late day, evening and weekend medical problems.

Most major urgent care centers are contraced with a variety of insurance companies.  Often co-pays are higher than that of a family phyicians office due to the accessability.  However, urgent care centers generally have lower co-pays than that of an emergency room.