Urgent Care vs Primary Care: A quick guide to make the right choice
Understanding healthcare options can be puzzling, especially when you aren’t sure if you should go to your PCP or head to an Urgent Care center. Both Primary Care and Urgent Care serve vital roles, however when should they be used can be the challenge.
Let’s understand Primary care first:
What is Primary Care?
Primary care is your go to option for long-term health management. A primary care physician (PCP) focuses on preventive care, chronic disease management, and overall wellness. They build a relationship with you over time, tracking your medical history and coordinating specialized care when needed. Ideally your PCP knows your health very well, just a friend.
Why should you use Primary Care?
As you read earlier, a physician who has travelled with you for quite some time knows your medical history, he knows you well – a personal doc who cares for you, but why should you befriend a doctor?
A doctor can be friendly in nature as that is their duty, but they are not like the best friends you make. They are friends for life, pun intended!
You need to make primary care visits for preventive care like your annual exam, vaccinations, physicals screenings (blood sugar, pressure, cholesterol). A primary care should also be visited for Chronic condition management like diabetes, asthma, hypertension and thyroid disorders as they need regular monitoring, and the doctor should know your history to offer quality service. People who have medical conditions like mental disorders, anxiety problems, depression, stress and psychological issues will have to take regular checkups, and primary care would be their best bet.
Primary Care is ideal for regular visits, chronic conditions, routine referrals, preventive care and physician support management.
What Is Urgent Care?
Urgent care is your go to option to address immediate, non-life-threatening medical issues and conditions that definitely can’t wait for the Primary care physician’s appointment. A simple example is a deep cut in your finger while chopping vegetables. It can be minor however you need to stop the bleeding, take immediate precaution to avoid the wound from festering further.
The urgent care centers offer you same day appointment and allow direct walk-ins too. They can facilitate extended hours and on-site diagnostics like x-rays or lab tests and offer quick treatment.
Why should you use Urgent Care?
As the name says it all – Urgent Care. When it’s urgent you get to the center, it can be an emergency but not a life threatening one. Sudden illnesses like food poisoning, vomiting, strep throat, minor injuries like fractures, sprains, stitches for cuts and mild burns can all be treated at an Urgent Care center. Sometimes you may require rapid tests like covid-19 test on same day for a travel requirement, or a strep then Urgent care is your best bet. You can barge in to urgent care for allergies from food or any dust, for rashes and non-severe medical conditions.
When your PCP is unavailable, or you encounter sudden illness but not severe, when you need same day appointment for a condition which is not ER, you can get yourself into Urgent Care.
Key Differences: When to Choose Which
Primary Care
Urgent Care
Walk-in availability
Go to the ER for
Life Saver Urgent Care: Fast, Reliable Care When You Need It
At Life Saver Urgent Care, we provide accessible, high-quality care for non-emergencies, no appointments, Walk-in clinic in Torrance extended hours, on-site diagnosis, skilled providers cost-effective when compared to primary care and ER visits and if your insurance covers urgent care services we accept them too.
Understanding Urgent Care vs Primary Care ensures you make informed decisions for your health, save money, time and get prompt services in time.