If your child is very sick, it can be challenging to determine whether their symptoms warrant a trip to urgent care or the emergency room.
Understanding the difference between these healthcare options and recognizing the symptoms that signal the need for each can make all the difference in ensuring your child receives timely and appropriate care.
Urgent Care vs. Emergency Room: What’s The Difference?
Urgent care centers and emergency rooms serve distinct purposes in providing medical care.
Urgent care facilities are equipped to handle non-life-threatening injuries and illnesses that require prompt attention but are not so severe that they warrant an emergency room visit. Most urgent care centers offer medical help on a walk-in basis (without an appointment), often outside of regular office hours.
On the other hand, emergency rooms are designed to handle critical and life-threatening conditions that require immediate medical intervention. Emergency rooms typically offer 24/7 access to medical care for serious conditions, such as trauma, broken bones and loss of consciousness.
When to Go to Urgent Care
When your child’s condition requires attention within 24 hours but is not an emergency, urgent care can provide timely treatment.
If you or your child experiences these non-life-threatening symptoms, it’s appropriate to go to an urgent care center for help:
- Minor cuts, wounds, fractures or sprains, including those that require stitches
- Cold or flu symptoms
- Mild fever
- Earache
- Sinus infection
- Sore throat
- Cough
- Minor burns
- Mild asthma attacks
- Allergic reactions without severe symptoms
Symptoms That Warrant a Visit to the Emergency Room
Serious and life-threatening symptoms indicate the need for immediate medical attention in an emergency room setting.
If you or your child experience these or similar symptoms, it’s recommended that you go to the emergency room right away for help:
- High fever, especially in infants (fever of 100.4°F or higher in babies under two months or above 104 in older kids, if it lasts longer than three days)
- Difficulty breathing
- Severe chest pains
- Head injury with loss of consciousness
- Persistent vomiting or diarrhea leading to dehydration
- Severe allergic reactions
- Sudden changes in mental status or loss of consciousness
- Signs of a possible broken bone or serious injury, such as a painful sprain or tear
- Severe abdominal pain
- Sudden weakness or difficulty speaking
- Seizures
- Deep cuts with heavy bleeding
- Severe burns or burns involving the face or genitals
- Any other symptoms that are sudden, severe or life-threatening
As a parent, it’s important to trust your instincts and err on the side of caution when it comes to your child’s health.
If you’re unsure whether your child’s symptoms warrant a trip to urgent care or the emergency room, consider factors such as the severity and duration of their symptoms, and your child’s overall health and medical history. Of course, continue to visit your pediatrician for well visits and when you have concerns about your child’s health.
At Stony Brook Medicine, our Pediatric Primary Care providers offer comprehensive care at multiple Suffolk County locations, including routine well and sick care for children from birth through age 21.
