Your kid wakes up with a fever or gets a concussion during soccer practice. In the panic of that moment, do you know the best place to take them for health care?
The pandemic changed a lot of the ways we access healthcare, and finding the best care can still be a moving target. Primary care providers were overloaded with COVID-19 patients for so long that many parents and caregivers changed their first line of defense. Emergency rooms are scary environments for kids, expose them to all kinds of diseases, are often understaffed, and most lack any pediatric specialists.
It’s no wonder that urgent care centers have emerged stronger than ever as an option for non-life-threatening healthcare, and the number of urgent care centers has grown more than 25% since 2019. Despite that growth, the number of dedicated pediatric urgent care centers remains small.
What are the benefits of a pediatric urgent care center?
Like ERs, most urgent care centers are made for adults and adapted for kids. Braces, casts, IVs, and other equipment don’t fit kid’s bodies. Standard medical training also focuses on adults – not kids – so it’s important to find providers with pediatric experience. If your child has a broken ankle, it’s crucial for the doctor to remember that their bones are more flexible than an adult’s hard, brittle bones. And children’s bones have growth plates that can easily be mistaken for breaks by adult providers.
Most kids get scared when they need urgent healthcare. As parents, it’s hard for us to keep our cool, too, when our child is hurting. Pediatric urgent care centers are well-equipped to keep everyone calm and comfortable when emotions are running high. Waiting rooms and exam rooms play cartoons instead of the news and have fun sensory toys instead of the latest People Magazine.
Pediatric urgent care centers can also easily coordinate with your primary care physician to make sure they’re up to speed on your child’s healthcare. This level of specialized care is surprisingly affordable and usually a fraction of the cost (and less time!) than an ER visit.
When is the right time to visit an urgent care center?
Pediatric urgent care centers can treat almost any urgent, non-life-threatening injury or illness, including:
- Cough and difficulty breathing
- Fevers
- Broken bones
- Stitches
- Head injuries
- Vomiting and diarrhea
Pediatricians and primary care physicians may not have time to care for an urgent illness or injury, and sometimes, kids need care outside of office hours. Adult-centric urgent care centers often refer young patients to ERs because they don’t have the expertise or resources to treat simple pediatric conditions like minor dehydration and coughs.
If your child has a potentially life-threatening issue, it’s important to go straight to the emergency room (preferably one that is a dedicated pediatric ER), where they will have the most extensive life-saving resources available. But outside of life-threatening situations and regular check-ups with your primary care physician, a pediatric urgent care center is an accessible, affordable, high-quality option.
Richmond and Stafford’s only pediatric urgent care center, KidMed Urgent Care, provides quality, evidence-based pediatric urgent care services with compassion and care to thousands of young patients. Every physician is pediatric board-certified, and our Advanced Practice Providers (NPs and PAs) are also pediatric trained. Our team fully informs and educates parents on their child’s condition, and we follow up each visit with your child’s primary care physician, including personal phone calls to the caregivers the next day, if needed.
KidMed is the first business and medical facility designated an Autism Friendly Community by the Autism Society of Central Virginia. Every member of KidMed’s team – from front desk staff to providers – goes through extensive training to create a comfortable, less stressful experience and improve the quality of care.
The next time your kid has a fever, break, sneeze, or ache, KidMed’s friendly and knowledgeable pediatric staff is here to make it all better!
