There are few things that worry a parent more than having a sick child. All parents have likely experienced more than once a scenario in which they are awoken in the middle of the night by their child who announces they aren’t feeling well and may have already been sick for awhile before they said anything.
At that point, a parent’s top priority is getting their child the medical attention they need. Since a lot of illness can pop up without warning, you may not always be able to get in and see your child’s primary care physician. Your best bet is to take them to one of your local urgent care locations. This is preferable to waiting in a doctor’s office or in an emergency room, especially if you’re dealing with a child who’s got a high fever, an upset stomach or something worse. Bottom line, the sooner they feel better, the better off they’re going to be and so will you as a parent.
So why should you visit one of your local urgent care facilities? More and more, people are visit urgent care facilities for non-life-threatening medical issues such as sprains, strains, sports injuries, ear infections, colds, back pain and dizziness to name a few things. The list of ailments an urgent care location can treat continues to grow and it’s a big reason by more than three million Americans visit urgent care facilities every week.
When it comes to childhood illnesses, your average urgent care facility is the place to go to treat mumps, measles, rubella, chicken pox, strep throat, food allergies, fevers, colds, coughs, croup, pink eye, hand-foot-mouth disease, ear infections and even when a child has swallowed a foreign object.
Now it’s natural for any parent to be concerned about the health and safety of their child and you may question how a local urgent care location is going to help your child feel better. Fortunately, your average urgent care location can offer plenty of benefits to children including:
- Having nurses, doctors and other trained personnel on staff, who are very experienced at dealing with children’s medical issues and how to treat them.
- Having an on-site pediatrician to help children
- Equipment and resources to deal with issues your child might be facing
As if those benefits of your average urgent care location aren’t enough, there’s more. Patients of all ages have shorter wait times at urgent cares—usually about 15 minutes—and they’re also open longer. Most urgent cares are open until at least 7 p.m. during the work week and they’re even open on the weekends. This gives you flexibility when it comes to getting care for your child.
For non-life-threatening injuries and common, easily treated symptoms, a visit to a local urgent care facility can save you time, money and help your child get better faster.
It’s no secret that Americans are very busy these days and getting sick takes away from that busy routine. When sickness pops up, especially in children, you need convenient, quick medical care to make sure they get better and don’t miss much time at school or for activities. Fortunately, urgent care locations are usually easy to find and give parents quick access to treatments like flu shots and other children’s medicines.
Another bonus is that urgent care locations offer treatments at much lower rates than you might find at your primary care doctor or at a hospital. Most offer pricing lists, so you can see how much different treatments costs.
Bottom line, there are many benefits to take your child to an urgent care. But you may be wondering when the best time is to take your child in for care? It can always be a tough call, but if your child is dealing with a severe medical issue, get them to the emergency room straight away. For less serious medical issues, an urgent care visit is the best choice. Either way, you can never be too careful when it comes to your child’s health and you don’t want to leave anything to chance.
