One of the most important attributes of a pediatric urgent care is their ability to sympathize with and treat a hurting or scared child. A reputable pediatric urgent care facility should employ a highly skilled clerical and medical staff that can put children and caregivers at ease during particularly painful and stressful moments.
With trained medical staff that often have years of on the job experience, pediatric urgent care centers provide compassionate and quality care to patients and their caregivers in a timely manner that is typically faster and generally more personable than that of local emergency rooms.
Pediatric Urgent Care Services
From craft supplies that can end up lodged in noses and raised bumps that appear on foreheads after a run in with the coffee table, kids can be accident prone. The stomach bug or nasty cough going around school seems to strike in the wee hours of a Saturday morning. Children seldom time their accidental catastrophes and illnesses to the daily hours of a pediatrician, but pediatric urgent care stands at the ready.
Typically a pediatric urgent care will treat a variety illnesses such as:
- Respiratory Infections
- Sinus Infections
- Flu
- Fever
- Ear Infections
- Strep Throat
- Stomach Aches
Other conditions treated by pediatric urgent care centers that are frequently associated with young patients generally include:
- Coughs and Colds
- Rashes
- Skin Infections
- Cuts and Lacerations
- Sprains and Breaks
- Viral Bacterial Infections
Other Pediatric Services
If a broken bone or illness sidelines a child, caregivers often automatically consider pediatric urgent care. However, many urgent care facilities provide a variety of urgent and non-urgent services for pediatric patients such as physicals for school or sports, lab testing, in house X-rays, and basic vaccinations.
Appointments at a pediatrician’s office that are slotted for back to school physicals can fill up very quickly. By getting a child’s physical taken care of at a pediatric urgent care center, caregivers will hopefully be able to avoid battling for an appointment before the school or sports deadline.
On site lab testing is a service that many patients find quite convenient. Instead of receiving a bloodwork order with directions to the nearest diagnostic lab, medical personnel at pediatric urgent care centers are typically trained to draw blood on the spot and run appropriate tests.
In house X-ray capabilities are particularly helpful in the case of a potential sprain or broken bone. Getting a child with that specific kind of injury into urgent care is difficult enough without having to get them back out and transported to a different care center for the sole purpose of an X-ray. A pediatric urgent care center with X-ray capabilities can perform this service then and there, without requiring the injured child to be transported to another facility.
Vaccinations commonly provided by pediatric urgent care centers include Tetanus (sometimes referred to as Tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis or Tdap), hepatitis, and tuberculosis (TB). These are among the most frequently required vaccinations for children under the age of eighteen.
Some pediatric urgent care centers will go above and beyond more immediate health concerns to also serve children that may require ongoing nutritional services that could include everything from individualized counseling to guidance with weight loss.
Why choose pediatric urgent care?
Although there may be a number of quality pediatric care facilities located in your area, they are likely not all created equal.
Because of the nature of urgent care, these types of visits can seldom be arranged by appointment. It is almost impossible to anticipate a sprained ankle or broken leg. Pediatric urgent care is accustomed to handling this type of unpredictable patient load while taking care of children with time sensitive health needs.
While some children may see a specific pediatrician on a regular basis, the timing of their injury or medical need may not coincide with their pediatrician’s regular business hours. Most pediatric urgent care facilities open around eight o’clock in the morning and are open well past the typical office hour closing of five o’clock in the evening. In addition, pediatric urgent care offices are often open for limited hours during the weekend.
The number of services available on site at a pediatric urgent care are also attractive to potential patients. Especially for young patients that are not feeling well or are experiencing extreme pain, multiple stops at a pediatrician’s office, an X-ray site, and a lab can almost be too much to handle. A pediatric urgent care in Conroe, TX that offers labs, X-rays, vaccinations, and even school physicals as a one-stop shop visit, making the process much more seamless for caregivers and children alike.
