Benefits of Visiting Pediatric Urgent Care in Charlotte NC

While urgent care clinics are a viable option in a pinch, not all urgent care clinics have physicians who are trained specifically to treat children, making them less experienced in pediatrics. Pediatric urgent care clinics will have all of the necessary tools in the correct smaller size to properly treat children and are much more likely to have the capacity to adjust machines such as an x-ray machine to make sure that they are at the standard intensity for children (often x-ray machines for children will provide far less radiation than standard for adults). Since the physicians available at pediatric urgent care clinics will be much more experienced in treating children, they will be able to offer a much more child-friendly atmosphere and are better adept at communicating with their patients. The setting will be far less scary for children as the entire environment will be designed with children patients in mind, allowing for as little stress to be added to the situation as possible.

When a medical situation arises, it can be stressful to decide which route is the best course of action to ensure that your child receives the right level of medical attention. Unless the medical situation is considered life or limb-threatening, urgent care is usually the better option as it is often much more convenient with a much quicker waiting time, and will often end up being the more affordable option, however, there are situations in which going straight to the emergency room is the right call. Those emergencies for children include if your child is having trouble breathing (appears as wheezing or struggling to speak), pain in their stomach that is localized to one specific spot (could be appendicitis), and if they have a fever alongside other symptoms such as lethargy, excessive vomiting, dehydration, or struggling to breathe. Some other reasons you should take your child to the emergency room rather than urgent care include severe bleeding from a cut, excessive urinating, and thirst (indicative of type 1 diabetes which can be fatal if left untreated) if they have bumped their head pretty hard and if they are having a severe allergic reaction. All of these symptoms are for children or infants older than 3 months of age, any newborns that are displaying fevers or any other significant changes in their health should just be taken directly to the emergency room to be safe. Most other situations only require urgent care, basically, if you would consider going to a primary care physician but wish to see a medical professional sooner than typical medical office hours, urgent care is the best option. If your child is suffering from a common illness such as the flu or RSV or requires medical attention for non-life-threatening situations, the urgent care clinic is the right route to choose.

Even though the main reason that children visit a pediatrician is for their regularly scheduled check-ups to keep them up to date with any required immunizations and to keep track of their overall health, it is very common for children to need unplanned visits to the doctor as well. The unplanned visits will most commonly be due to the development of a cough, ear infections, pink eye, a stomach bug, and strep throat. Preventative care is much more commonly required by the average child, but children are also much more prone to developing different infections simply due to being near many other children daily and because their bodies and immune systems have not yet fully developed.

Dr. Joseph Okoye MD and Dr. Sylvia Okoye, MD, at Eastway Medical Clinic provide personalized care to your child for his better growth and development. For more information, contact us or schedule an appointment online. We are conveniently located at 1220 Eastway Drive Charlotte, NC 28205. We serve patients from Charlotte NC, Newell NC, Mint Hill NC, Matthews NC, Allen NC, Harrisburg NC, and surrounding cities.