Urgent Care Vs ER: What’s the Difference?

Yes, Urgent care is usually more efficient than the emergency department. Urgent care is known to have a broader and deeper range of services than other clinics; however, in most cases, the volume and complexity of issues are not equivalent to emergency departments. Urgent care clinics are available to help conserve emergency room resources so that more serious and even life-threatening conditions can be treated at an emergency room.

The difference between going to urgent care and emergency care filters down to what constitutes a medical emergency.

Urgent care clinics are available as a form of medical care that focuses on any conditions that may not be potentially life or limb-threatening emergencies but still require prompt service and care within 24 hours or less.

Some of these medical care services that urgent cares offer treatment for are:

• Bruises, bumps, strains, and broken bones
• Insect bites
• Animal bites
• Viruses (like COVID-19)
• Cold and Flu
• Asthma
• Eye Injuries
• Earaches and Infections
• Respiratory Infections
• Vomiting and Diarrhea

Plus, many more! Express Health Urgent Care also offers services like:

• Sport and School Physicals
• DOT Physicals
• Lab Testing
• Digital X-rays
• STD and UTI Testing
• Flu Shots
• And many more!

The difference between urgent care clinics and emergency care centers is the severity of the health problem. If the condition is life-threatening or serious, this renders a visit to an emergency room. If the condition is a minor illness or injury, take advantage of the convenience of urgent care clinics and the affordability urgent care clinics offer. Express Health Urgent Care offers affordability and convenience with quality medical treatments.

Urgent care clinics are showing up all over the United States. Urgent care provides a combination of benefits that your primary care doctor and emergency room centers cannot match.

Some of the top benefits that urgent cares offer are:

• Offer better hours than the average doctor’s office
• It can be difficult to get to see your family doctor, sometimes it could take over a week to get booked for an appointment with them when you can visit urgent care that offers almost immediate care. 
• Urgent cares save you money versus going to an emergency room for minor injuries and illnesses
• Urgent cares are known to be significantly cheaper than going to an emergency room, it could also be cheaper than visiting your primary care doctor.
• Urgent cares provide quicker service than an ER can, and may even be faster than your family doctor’s office
• Visiting an emergency room can offer a wait time that could lead to several hours to be seen, while urgent cares offer walk-in service and can usually get you in within minutes of arriving, depending on how busy they are.
• Many urgent cares offer walk-in services with no appointments necessary 
• Waiting for an appointment to see your family doctor when you are not feeling well can become frustrating and even uncomfortable. However, you can go to urgent care whenever you need to get experienced medical care.
• Urgent cares also treat serious problems, depending on the severity of the problem.
• If you have a life or limb-threatening emergency, emergency care will be the place to visit for help. Anything minor, even stitches can be helped through an urgent care clinic.

If you or someone you know is showing signs or symptoms of heat stroke or sunstroke or any illness or injuries that is not life-threatening but still need immediate care then visit an urgent care like Express Health Urgent Care. We are available for walk-in treatment. For more information, contact us or book an appointment online. We have convenient locations in East Harlem NYC, Metropolitan NYC, and Staten Island NYC. We serve patients from Brooklyn NYC, Queens NY, East Harlem NYC, Manhattan NY, Coney Island NYC, Midwood NY, Nostrand NYC, Ridgewood NY, Metropolitan NYC, Staten Island, Greenwich Village NY, and surrounding areas.