Having to get medical care whether it is st an urgent care center or the emergency room is usually a conflict of mentality. On one hand you don’t want you or your loved one to be sick enough to have to visit and advanced urgent care but on the other hand it will be such a relief to have doctors nearby that know what they’re doing and understand the problem more than you do. This is especially true when it comes to your children. It’s so difficult as a parent to see your child suffering and you want to do everything you can to put a stop to it. Pediatric urgent cares are great because they cater to the panicking parent and understand the struggles that they’re going through. If you or your loved one or your child are not experiencing life threatening symptoms then your best bet is to go to an advanced urgent care center. Let’s take a look at the benefits of urgent care facilities in order to help you understand a little bit better why these might be more helpful to you than the emergency room or hospital.

Wait time
One of the best things about urgent care center is the limited wait time. Because they do not take life-threatening cases there will never be anybody bumped ahead of you. The average wait time at an urgent care center is 15 to 20 minutes compared to the hours that you could wait at an emergency room. You even have the option of calling ahead or using the website to make an appointment to shorten your wait time even more. If you have never been to that particular advanced urgent care facility then you will probably need to fill out some paperwork which may take some time, so be prepared for that.

Doctor availability
It’s a common myth that physicians are at the ER but not at an urgent care. Actually, most urgent care clinics are owned and operated by several physicians so they have a vested interest in making sure that the clinics are taken care of. There’s always a doctor at an urgent care that is available for anyone who needs them. Again, because the situations are not life threatening, the doctors are able to take the time that is needed with each patient to talk with them, diagnosed conditions accurately and help them understand and answer any questions that they might have. This makes it a lot easier to trust the doctor instead of feeling like you’re wasting his time and that he needs to be somewhere else more important. Also, because there are doctors always present, urgent cares can treat basically any condition that walks in the door as well as it is not life threatening.

Stress factor
Urgent cares are a lot more relaxed. This is a great benefit especially if you’re going to an urgent care for kids. Kids feed off of their parents and other adults emotions so if they are sick, being in a stressful and high paced environment may make them worse. Being in urgent care will be better for them because they can relax and rest without the possibility of seeing something or hearing something that can distress them further. This also means that nurses and doctors are calm her and can take their time with you and will always give you the worst case scenario which is often what happens at an emergency room.

Opening hours
The only bad thing about an urgent care is that they are typically not 24 hour facilities. Although there are some that are beginning to go that direction, it is not common. Many of them will be open late, until about 9 PM or so but if something happens in the middle of the night he will have no choice but to go to the emergency room. This may be changing in the near future but as of right now most urgent care clinics don’t have the funding available to them that hospitals do and have to cut that where necessary. However, if you have the choice and the situation is not life or death, you should always choose advanced urgent care over any other medical facility.