Well the truth is the emergency room was never meant for things like earaches and mild sprains
. The emergency room was intended for a man who just got into a car accident and his limbs need to be reattached. It is a place to evaluate patients who have catastrophic illness or circumstance and streamline them to the people who can help. What it has become is mothers bringing in their babies with high fevers and children with sprains. While both scenarios need care they could be better served in an urgent care setting.
The difference between the two options is wait times, cost, and the types of service they provide. A mother would be in and out faster with her infant with a high fever. Her child with a sprain or even a break would receive an x-ray and be sent home sooner too. Let's face it. So many of us have gone to the emergency room because we just couldn't feel sick for one more minute. At that moment it really does feel like an emergency.
Another difference might be the hours of operation. An emergency department must be open 24 hours. These facilities popping up are there to fill a gap of time where your physician is not open. They may close at eleven at night, but re open at seven in the morning. This would mean that any time after eleven at night you and your baby would still end up in the emergency room if you could not get a handle on babies' symptoms.
Fees are going to be less than an emergency room. Emergency rooms have to treat everyone regardless of ability to pay. This can cause a hospital to treat several people a night who won't end up remitting any payment for service rendered. Because of this they bill those who do pay a lot more to make up for those who don't. At one of these facilities patients who can't pay will be turned away. In addition, since they are not treating trauma victims the overhead is much less.
So the next times that your baby has spiked a fever consider urgent care. With less waiting and smaller bills it really does seem like the right choice. Always remember the difference, however, and if you think baby's life is in danger use the emergency department.