When Should I Go to Urgent Care?

Urgent care clinics have become increasingly more accessible and popular due to the wide range of services that they are able to provide for patients all over the country. You may consider visiting an urgent care clinic if you have incurred an unexpected illness or injury that can be considered mild but requires treatment within the next 12 to 24 hours to either prevent the condition from worsening, prevent the risk of infection, or treat uncomfortable or painful symptoms. They serve as a more affordable and convenient option to emergency rooms but are not able to treat the same level of severity of cases, with most urgent care clinics not being able to offer any surgical procedures or treatment of life- or limb-threatening conditions.

It can be difficult to determine if you should go to an urgent care clinic or a primary care walk-in clinic, but they can be differentiated by the type of care that you want to receive. Most walk-in clinics can be treated like a more flexible and affordable primary care physician’s office, providing care for those who either do not have a primary care physician or whose primary care physician has limited availability, making scheduling appointments difficult. If you have something that you would typically visit a primary care physician with, such as needing a physical examination, a referral to a specialist, a refill for a prescription, etc., a walk-in clinic would be best suited for your care. Urgent care clinics can typically be treated as an in-between of primary care and emergency care, providing quick, high-quality treatment for minor illnesses and injuries such as:

• Minor infections (e.g. UTI’s, STI’s, ear infections, eye infections, etc.)
• Minor sprains, strains, fractures, cuts, burns, and bruises
• Minor allergic reactions
• Asthma management
• Insect or animal bites
• Food poisoning
• Dehydration
• Cold and flu symptoms

Depending on the open hours of the urgent care clinic near you, there are different times at which the clinic will likely be a bit less busy, providing faster care for those with more flexible schedules. Typically, people who are suffering from less urgent conditions will plan to visit their nearby urgent care clinic before or after normal work hours, making the times that are often a bit less busy around midday. If you are able to find a clinic that offers open hours that are extended a bit in the evening or has open hours on the weekends, midday on the weekdays will often result in being able to access faster care.

Many urgent care clinics offer on a walk-in, first-come, first-served basis, making it sometimes tricky to determine how long the entire visit will take. To help manage these unexpected delays, some urgent care clinics are offering virtual waitlists to allow patients the ability to wait for a health care provider to become available for them from the comfort of their own home or will allow for same-day scheduled appointments to ensure that a health care provider will be available to provide treatment at their allocated timeslot, making planning your visit much more convenient.

Eastside Urgent Care is conveniently located in Cincinnati, Ohio between Pharo Drive and Ohio Park, offering high-quality, affordable urgent care services to patients located in the surrounding areas including Withamsville, Cherry Grove, Britney Acres, Asbury, Forestville, Hill Craft Acres, Am-Beth Acres, Glen Ridge Acres, Amelia, Mount Carmel, Anderson, Alpine Terrace, and Fruit Hill, Ohio.

If you have any questions regarding directions to our clinic or the services that we are able to provide through our Urgent Care clinic, please do not hesitate to contact our clinic today to speak with one of our highly qualified team members. For more information, contact us or book a same-day priority appointment. We are conveniently located at 872 Ohio Pike Cincinnati, OH 45245. We serve patients from Cincinnati OH, Covedale OH, Delhi OH, St Bernard OH, Wilders KY, and Elmwood Place OH.