urgent care

Urgent care is medical care for illnesses or injuries that require immediate attention but are not life-threatening. It provides outpatient services for acute and chronic conditions that need professional care within 24 hours but do not need emergency room resources. Urgent care centers offer an alternative to emergency rooms and primary care physicians when timely appointments are not available or outside regular office hours. They can treat conditions like infections, minor injuries, fractures, asthma attacks, and other non-life- threatening situations efficiently and economically, often with the availability of simple diagnostic tests like X-rays and lab tests. For true emergencies like heart attacks or severe trauma, emergency services (e.g., calling 112) should be used instead.