Should You Go to an Urgent Care for Breast infection
One of your breasts is red, swollen and tender. Is it an infection or something else? Should you go to urgent care or wait to see your regular doctor in a few days. Here are some general things to consider when trying to decide where and when to get health care treatment. On one end of that spectrum are urgent cares, clinics, home care providers and retail clinics like those in pharmacies — they may provide more convenience than an emergency room but usually offer limited services without the benefit of doctors specifically trained in family medicine, internal medicine or other specialties with which people often seek regular doctors’ care for illnesses such as high blood pressure and diabetes.
Most people go to urgent care centers when they need help but are not experiencing a true emergency. They may have non-life threatening injuries, illnesses, or other ailments that require care beyond what a primary care physician can provide. But what kind of conditions does an urgent care facility treat? Most people aren’t sure, so we decided to look into it more and share it with our readers.
An infection of any part of your body is considered to be an emergency, but not all urgent care facilities are equipped to handle life-threatening illnesses. When a serious medical situation arises, it’s important to determine whether or not you need to go to an urgent care facility, or if it would be better to simply visit your primary physician. While we recommend calling 911 immediately in case of heart attack, stroke, seizure and other similar emergencies that can lead to death within minutes, it’s a good idea when considering these situations during normal business hours as well. If a case like one of these arises outside regular office hours however, there’s no question about where your next stop should be.
The answer is a resounding yes, provided that your symptoms fit a set of general guidelines. But if they don’t, urgent care might not be your best choice. Urgent care facilities are designed to handle non-emergency illnesses and injuries and you should go there for any of these types of conditions: simple infections that do not require emergency care—such as urinary tract infections (UTIs), strep throat, or bronchitis; sprains, strains, broken bones and cuts; injuries from car accidents (if no one needs immediate hospitalization); minor burns. You should also seek urgent care treatment if your family doctor’s office is closed for extended periods during evenings or weekends.
