For those who are not aware of the concept, there is a popularity of pediatric children’s urgent care being driven by the increase of unpredictable illness and injury potential. The immediate lack of pediatricians’ availability is leaving parents with a lot of confusion about how to immediately treat a child when they are showing symptoms of any disease.
Children’s Urgent Care – The Boom
Over the last five years, we have seen many urgent Care Centres, and we can consider it a mixed blessing. These walk-in clinics offer services even after hours and the weekends, which is one of the much-needed gaps in patient care, especially for patients who require prompt medical attention in the absence of the physician they usually consult. On the other hand, physicians and nurses in these clinics are rumored to have minimal Pediatrics training. Some are not comfortable looking for more than a simple remedy for the child.
These centers are especially skeptical about treating pediatric cases, and they tried them in the emergency department even when the kids don’t need emergency care. The doctors state that they have seen some fair share of referrals for basic cold and cough being sent to the ER the which could have been cleared with emergency treatment in the urgent care center itself.
Improvements In The Children’s Urgent Care
Most doctors believe that the lack of Universal guidelines to treat children under urgent care is leading to a lot of issues apart from the lack of training provided to the physicians and nurses in the clinics. According to the region wherein the clinic’s set, the services provided in these centers vary. Some centers have ECG equipment and their x-ray facilities, while many of the center’s lack these basics. On the other hand, some centers have an in-house lab facility to perform blood analysis, while other centers will have to send out the samples and wait for the result.
When To Use One?
As a parent, you should know when to make the urgent care call. The first step should always be calling the physician the child has already been consulting. The urgent care is in case of emergencies, and the respective pediatrician is not present.
If you should be going to the ER, then the child should be going through either or more of the following issues.
The 2-month child has a fever of 38 degrees Celsius or more.
The child might have a broken bone with visible swelling and misalignment.
The child hit his head and appears to have lost consciousness for a few seconds.
The child is having a seizure for signs of dehydration and absence of urination for more than half a day.
Gaping cuts and fast breathing.
Conclusion
Urgent care is one of the amazing concepts that might help the parents do better with their child care with the assistance of qualified physicians available during emergencies. However, the case might not be the same if the centers do not have sufficient facilities and the personnel being appointed without proper training and guidelines, making this rapidly expanding niche a difficult service to obtain.
