Most of the time, injuries and illnesses occur out of nowhere – you trip and fall on a flight of stairs, your child spikes a high fever on a Saturday, or the cold you’ve been nursing all week gets drastically worse. Should you head to an urgent care clinic or a hospital emergency room?
Knowing where to go for help can be confusing when these events happen.
What’s the difference between an urgent care clinic and an ER?
Urgent Care
Unless a condition is life-threatening, an urgent care clinic is generally a better option for infections, fevers, injuries, and other illnesses. Urgent care clinics are the middle ground between your primary care provider and the emergency room.
Urgent care centers have shorter wait times than ERs and cost much less than a traditional hospital emergency room visit. Many centers, like Integrity Urgent Care, offer convenient benefits like walk-in appointments and onsite x-ray.
We treat a variety of conditions at Integrity, but common reasons to visit urgent care clinics include: