Urgent Care vs. ER

Why Wait Hours in a Busy Emergency Room?

An emergency room is a great place to be for life-threatening injuries and illnesses, but for all other immediate medical needs an urgent care can provide you with prompt service on an economical budget.

We are experts at the evaluation and treatment of injuries including fractures, lacerations, hand injuries, neck and back pain, eye problems, burns and bites. Guardian Urgent Care treats acute injuries and illnesses rather than chronic medical conditions. We are experienced in the diagnosis and treatment of fevers, infections, asthma, skin rashes, urinary and gastro intestinal problems. We also perform physicals for work, school, sports and camp. We provide occupational medicine, immunizations, and travelers services.

What is Urgent Care?

Urgent care is the fastest growing segment of our healthcare system. This growth is directly related to the desire of patients to have easy access to quality medicine provided by informed and connected medical providers. Urgent Care has demonstrated to be both convenient and cost effective.

Largely, urgent care providers specialize in treating a disease, illness, or injury when presented on an episodic basis. The disease, illness or injury which is treated in the urgent care setting is usually acute, and with treatment, is fully corrected in seven to fourteen days.

Because of the focus on only episodic problems, the urgent care providers generally do not provide obstetric services, in-hospital admission, long term management of chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, or other conditions requiring long term medical management. However, we do have a large network of specialty physicians that we will refer you to for continued care.

Many emergency medicine trained physicians are shifting to an urgent care medical practice in order to escape the overcrowded hospital emergency departments, which have proven to be the least desirable venue for ambulatory care patients to seek immediate care.

Urgent Care Medicine provides services to 85% of the population who do not suffer from a long-term chronic disease, or require the services of a hospital.

90% or more of all encounters at urgent care centers are episodic and acute, including, minor lacerations, fractures, bumps, sore throats, ear infections, and other "just don’t feel good" conditions

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Footnote: These statistics were taken from information provided by the National Association For Ambulatory Care (NAFAC)