Ohio Urgent Care Facilities offer Convenience

Ohio urgent care centers offer a valuable service to patients with minor medical needs, particularly patients who need care when their primary care physician is not available—or when they don't have a regular primary care doctor.

An Ohio urgent care center offers several advantages to patients who need medical care for a minor injury or illness that does not require emergency medical care:

• Provides timely service. Patients who go to a hospital emergency room for care of a minor illness or injury must wait until patients with serious illnesses or injuries are cared for. So, if they come when an emergency room is busy their wait can be long. At an urgent care center, patients are typically cared for in the order they arrive.
• Service is provided on a walk-in basis; appointments are not needed.
• Ohio urgent care centers offer extended evening hours and are open on weekends (however, unlike hospital emergency rooms, they are not open 24 hours).
• The cost of treatment in an Ohio urgent care center is usually much less than emergency room care.
• Many insurance companies cover urgent care services for individuals under their plan.
• In a given area urgent care centers are more plentiful than hospital emergency rooms.

Urgent care centers often provide on-site diagnostic services, such as x-rays, EKGs and lab testing, as well as prescription services. They provide treatment of all minor illnesses and injuries, such as coughs and colds, infections, sprains, minor fractures and cuts. They can also provide sports and school physicals and vaccinations.

An Ohio urgent care center, however, does not provide treatment for serious, life-threatening conditions or emergencies. When you experience a serious medical condition or emergency, call 9-1-1 to be taken to the nearest hospital emergency room. Examples include chest pains, signs of stroke, continuous bleeding, fainting or unconsciousness, breathing difficulty, life-threatening allergic reactions, severe or persistent vomiting, head or spine injury, vomiting or coughing up blood, ingestion of a poisonous substance, trauma from accidents such as a car wreck, burns and smoke inhalation, and large or deep wounds.