Patients who need urgent care centers often have illnesses or injuries that do not appear to be life-threatening, but cannot wait until the next day to see their primary care physician.

During later hours or days when primary care physicians are unavailable, urgent care centers provide quality healthcare without the hassles of emergency rooms. In urgent care centers, you can visit whenever they are open during normal business hours. There may be times when it is busier than others. These times include holidays, weekends, and evenings when most doctor’s offices are closed. It is common for patients to visit urgent care centers during weekend or evening hours when their primary physicians don’t have office hours.

Patients benefit from urgent care centers in other ways as well. The services provided at urgent care centers go beyond what you might receive at a walk-in clinic, including x-rays, lab services, and minor orthopedic procedures. In urgent care centers, patients can obtain immediate medical attention at extended hours.

Several people are concerned that urgent care centers might be more expensive than emergency rooms. As it turns out, this is simply not true, in fact, it is much cheaper than emergency room visits in most cases and comparable in pricing to a walk-in clinic.

In an urgent care center, you can receive treatment for non-life-threatening conditions such as illnesses or minor injuries. Most of these facilities don’t require appointments but making an appointment or checking in ahead of time may help reduce your wait time. Emergency departments are required for life-threatening emergencies, such as heart attacks and serious head injuries.

Almost every day, we receive a visit from someone with a respiratory illness. Patients suffering from the common cold, influenza, and other illnesses come into our office all year long, regardless of the severity of their conditions. In addition to catching a cold, most urgent care visits involve injuries. Most patients who come in experiencing pain or trauma do not have chronic health conditions. A small accident that requires immediate attention but is not fatal can be treated by our team. There are many places in the body where infections can occur. There are many of these that are not severe and can be treated with antibiotics. Without the proper treatment, infections can become more serious, making it imperative to seek medical attention as soon as possible.

It is important to know that the person who treats you may not be a doctor when you go to an urgent care clinic. It is common for urgent care centers to have doctors on staff as well as physician assistants and nurse practitioners who are able to diagnose and prescribe treatment for a wide variety of conditions. It is likely that whichever healthcare professional you see will offer treatment and then recommend you follow up with your regular doctor.

It is generally a good idea to follow up with a primary care physician after presenting to urgent care and being treated there. Although they do not always need to follow up immediately, if they have been seen for something that needs continuing treatment, like elevated blood pressure, they should definitely contact their primary care physician.

An urgent care provider will tell you whether you need to follow up as soon as possible or schedule an appointment later on.

It is also possible to find an unrelated issue that will require follow-up, such as high blood pressure when visiting urgent care for an entirely different concern.

Urgent care is available at Van Nuys Urgent Care Family Medicine. We are conveniently located at 7211 Van Nuys Blvd Van Nuys, CA 91405. For more information, contact us or schedule an appointment online. We serve patients from Van Nuys CA, North Hollywood CA, Sherman Oaks CA, Panorama City, Arleta CA, Reseda CA, and surrounding areas.