Urgent Care for Kids Q&A

Reddy Urgent Care offers walk-in care, longer hours, and immediate treatment of urgent, but not life-threatening emergencies, filling the gap between hospital emergency rooms and doctor’s offices. The urgent care centers are similar to emergency rooms in that you are able to see a provider without an appointment. Moreover, urgent care centers often offer extended hours since they understand not all medical emergencies occur during business hours.

When it comes to if it is better to go to urgent care or an emergency room, it is totally circumstantial. An urgent care clinic has proven to be a more affordable option with faster service for those patients who did not require care from the ER in the first place. That being said, when you are a patient who requires care from the ER, particularly when encountering a life or limb-threatening emergency the ER must always be your first choice. For this reason, it is impossible to say whether going to urgent care or the ER is better, it depends entirely on your individual circumstances. However, if you require non-emergency treatment outside of your primary care provider’s regular hours, urgent care may offer you far better outcomes in regard to prompt diagnosis, treatment, and affordability.
 
The emergency rooms of hospitals are extremely crowded these days. It’s most common for them to be understaffed and overburdened with severe cases that need immediate attention. Modern emergency rooms are notorious for making long waits for those with less urgent health complaints, such as burns and sore throats.

Patients under the age of 18 are treated by pediatricians in pediatric urgent care clinics. There are some practices that see patients who are over 18 but under 21, as well as those who have chronic conditions that developed during childhood. When a child has a non-life-threatening health emergency, it is best to go to a pediatric urgent care clinic.
 
An adult’s needs differ greatly from those of a child. As a result of their development, children differ greatly from adults in terms of their physical, mental, and emotional attributes. Providing highly specialized care to children with growth and developmental abnormalities is the specialty of pediatric urgent care physicians.
 
When a parent’s child falls ill or suffers a minor injury it is no surprise they wish to have their condition examined as quickly as possible by a medical professional. Children are particularly susceptible to bumps and bruises as well as minor illnesses and many of these can be addressed at an urgent care clinic. Some common conditions treated for children include cold and flu symptoms, pink eye, insect and animal bites, nosebleeds, cough, and strep throat. Children are also often seen for rashes, stuffy nose/congestion, cuts, asthma, fever, and immunizations.

In terms of urgent care for adults and children, there are only slight differences. An urgent care clinic specializing in pediatrics will have a focus on treating sick and injured children. The clinic may not accept patients over a certain age, and pediatricians will be on staff. The age requirement varies from clinic to clinic but is usually between 16 and 21 years old.
 
Adult urgent care clinics treat adults with injuries and illnesses. Children can also be treated at some of these clinics. There are, however, some adult clinics that only work with adults. A minimum age of 16 or 21 may be required depending on the clinic.
 
Patients of all ages can be treated at Reddy Urgent Care where staff provides the highest quality of urgent care for everyone from children to seniors.
 
Urgent care services for children are available at Reddy Urgent Care. We serve patients from Downtown Long Beach CA, Paramount CA, East Side CA, Bixby Knolls Long Beach CA, and Los Altos CA.