If your child has an illness or injury, it can be confusing knowing where to go to get the appropriate medical treatment they need. An urgent care clinic can offer you convenient and affordable care for nonemergency health issues from qualified professionals. Urgent care centers are also equipped with the latest medical technology, making them a great choice for many of your family’s needs.
Urgent care is medical care that focuses on conditions and injuries that are not considered life threatening and do not pose a serious health risk, but do still require prompt treatment. They offer extended hours, which can help if your pediatrician is unavailable, and they can provide comprehensive care for many illnesses and injuries. Consider taking your child to an urgent care center if they have any of the following medical issues:
- Fracture, dislocation, or simple bone injury
- Minor trauma and burns
- Cuts and lacerations
- Sprains or other sport injury
- Animal bite
- Foreign body removal
- Allergies and asthma
- Insect bite/sting or allergic reaction
- Poison ivy
- Coughs, colds, flu, sore throat
- Upper respiratory infection
- Fever
- Dehydration
- Ear infection
- Migraines
- Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea
- Pink eye (conjunctivitis)
- Skin rash
- Skin infection or abscess
- Strep throat
- Urinary tract infection
When to Visit an Emergency Room
If your child has a serious, life-threatening illness or injury, you must go directly to your nearest emergency room (ER). You should dial 911 for situations that are so serious that you may require help of trained medical personnel on the way to the hospital. Emergencies can include any of the following conditions or injuries:
- Breathing difficulties or your child is turning blue
- Major head injury
- Unconscious following a fall or accident
- Seizure
- Uncontrollable bleeding
- Serious fractures (visible or crushed bone)
- Choking
- A stiff neck and a fever
- A continuously rapid heartbeat
- Severe burns, trauma, or injuries
- Severe asthma
- Ingestion of obstructive objects or a poison, drug, or unknown substance
- Severe pain (such as abdomen, chest, head)
- Head injury and vomiting
- A severe allergic reaction
- High fever in children
- Fever in infants less than two months old
- Eye injury
- Confusion or is unusually sleepy
- Snake bites
What Services Are Available at An Urgent Care Clinic?
Urgent care clinics offer a variety of medical and healthcare services, including family medicine, pediatrics, and routine orthopedic care. In order to provide the best possible care, they are fully equipped with state-of-the-art equipment to provide comprehensive on-site services, such as digital X-rays, diagnostic ultrasound, and electrocardiogram (EKG). Urgent care centers also provide lab tests to offer convenience and rapid diagnostic capabilities to check for abnormalities in your child’s health and to help diagnose a variety of medical conditions quickly.
Urgent care offers easy access to quality healthcare and can be a much more cost-effective treatment option than an emergency room. With extended hours and less waiting times, they can treat your child much quicker than an emergency room, which needs to prioritize life threatening health conditions over less serious medical issues. This inevitably leads to long waiting times. Urgent care clinics also welcome walk-ins, making the admission process straightforward and treatment easily accessible.
Urgent Care Services in North Richland Hills, Texas
At EMC Express Care in North Richland Hills, Texas, we are open every day from 10 am to 8 pm and are committed to providing quick care for you and your loved ones’ urgent, nonemergency health care needs. We are equipped with state of the art technology and specialized treatment rooms. We offer prompt, compassionate, and effective medical treatment. No appointment is necessary, but to save yourself time, you can fill out our convenient online check-in form before your arrival. For more information about our urgent care services, call us at (817) 503-8800.