{"id":19458,"date":"2021-12-14T14:32:06","date_gmt":"2021-12-14T19:32:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepapergown.zocdoc.com\/?p=19458"},"modified":"2023-03-06T11:42:46","modified_gmt":"2023-03-06T16:42:46","slug":"pediatric-urgent-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/guides\/pediatric-urgent-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Where You Should Take Your Child When They’re Sick"},"content":{"rendered":"

As adults, we\u2019ve come to rely on urgent care<\/a> as an important part of our medical system. Efficient, convenient and open at irregular hours, urgent care centers are ideal for medical situations that aren\u2019t life-threatening emergencies<\/a> but also can\u2019t wait for a scheduled doctor\u2019s visit.<\/p>\n

Pediatric urgent care can provide the same avenue for kids. When utilized correctly, walk-in pediatric urgent care centers can offer safe, reliable medical care for children.<\/p>\n

Urgent care can\u2019t treat everything, however. It\u2019s important to know when to take your child to urgent care and when the emergency room or an office visit with their primary care provider is a better choice.<\/p>\n

The rise of pediatric urgent care<\/h3>\n

As urgent care clinics have grown in popularity across the U.S., pediatric urgent care clinics have followed suit. A 2018 survey<\/a> found that of more than 7,600 urgent care centers, 21 percent were dedicated to pediatric care.<\/p>\n

Some pediatric urgent care centers are operated by private companies, either as a single business or as part of a large franchise, and some are run by hospitals as an extension of their network.<\/p>\n

Some of the nation\u2019s leading children\u2019s hospitals, including Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia (known familiarly as CHOP) and Children\u2019s Healthcare of Atlanta, operate urgent care centers in surrounding communities.<\/p>\n

Urgent care centers have grown in popularity for a number of reasons: They are open evenings and weekends, when primary care offices are usually closed, and are often located in residential areas close to patients\u2019 homes. Urgent care centers also tend to have shorter wait times than emergency rooms, where patients with non-life-threatening situations must be seen after those with more critical emergencies. Urgent care costs tend to be lower than emergency rooms; a 2016 study in the Annals of Emergency Medicine<\/a> found ER costs to be 10 times higher than urgent care, even for patients with the same diagnosis.<\/p>\n

While general urgent care centers are geared for adults but may also accept children, pediatric urgent care centers are more likely to staff providers that are specifically trained in pediatrics, whether it\u2019s a pediatric doctor, nurse practitioner or physician\u2019s assistant. The regulatory guidelines for urgent care centers vary by state<\/a>, so researching ahead of time can tell you more about urgent care in your area.<\/p>\n

When should you take your child to pediatric urgent care?<\/h3>\n

Knowing the difference between your local pediatric urgent care center, your child\u2019s primary care physician and the emergency room is key to accessing the appropriate care.<\/p>\n

\u201cI view the whole primary care doctor-urgent care-emergency care doctor as a continuous flow \u2014 almost like a river that flows from one end of the [medical care spectrum] to the other,\u201d explains Dr. Usha Sathian,\u00a0 service chief of urgent and community care for Children\u2019s Healthcare of Atlanta. \u201cAt one end is the pediatrician who does well visits and holistic primary care. The emergency room is the other end, with high-acuity care, taking care of things that are very serious. Urgent care falls in between that.\u201d<\/p>\n

That perspective can help you make sense of the medical situations pediatric urgent care center are equipped to treat. These include:<\/p>\n