Pediatric urgent care is a necessary service that helps parents ensure their child’s health through immediate treatment and timely preventative care. Here’s what you should know about pediatric urgent care and what they can do for you and your child.
What is Pediatric Urgent Care?
Urgent care is similar to an emergency room. The main difference is that urgent care usually costs a lot less than the ER at a hospital. Additionally, urgent care wait times are a lot lower than at the ER.
Pediatric urgent care specializes in treating children and adolescents. Doctors, nurses, and other medical staff are trained to work specifically with kids, so they’ll know how to help them best, regardless of the reason they are being seen.
Urgent Care vs. ER
Urgent care is an exceptional option for the majority of injuries or illnesses your child may experience. Minor wounds and other non-life-threatening problems can easily be treated in urgent care. Here are a few conditions common in children that would benefit from a trip to the urgent care clinic:
- Allergies and asthma
- Poison ivy
- Minor burns, cuts, and scrapes
- Pneumonia, flu, and cold
- Sprains, strains, and simple broken bones
- Cuts requiring stitches
- Pink eye
- UTI
- Digestive issues
Other, more severe conditions may mean heading to the ER instead:
- Seizure
- Loss of consciousness
- Severe burns or cuts
- Compound fractures or broken bones in the head, face, or ribs
- Inability to breathe
Available Urgent Care Services for Your Child
Pediatric urgent care centers offer most of the same services that adult urgent care centers do. This includes stitches, bloodwork, x-rays, and IVs for dehydration. As long as your child’s injury or illness is not life-threatening, most treatment can be done at a pediatric urgent care center.
Urgent Care Hours
Many urgent care centers are open 24/7, so you don’t have to worry about middle-of-the-night health concerns. However, before you head to your nearest clinic, call ahead to make sure that they are open and available for treatment. If not, head to the ER for immediate treatment.
Urgent Care and Insurance
As with urgent care hours, you should call ahead to make sure that your nearest urgent care clinic accepts your insurance. Most urgent care centers will accept the most popular and widely used insurances. If yours is not accepted, or if you do not have insurance, you will have to self-pay for the services.
Getting immediate care for your child when they need it is likely a priority for you. So whether you need a school sports physical, an emergency x-ray, or anything else for your child, you can get high-quality same-day care when you visit a nearby urgent care and walk-in clinic.
And whenever you need to get pediatric urgent care services or immediate treatment then consider AFC Urgent Care Aurora Saddle Rock today. Ensure that your child is treated promptly by visiting our clinic ASAP!