The best place for children to get routine medical care is at a pediatrician's office. This is often called the medical home. It is where care is ongoing, connected and centered on your child’s overall health. Still, children don’t always get sick or hurt during regular office hours, and some medical homes may have limited resources and capabilities.
If your baby develops a fever overnight or your child twists an ankle during a weekend game, it can be stressful to decide what to do next. Knowing your options can help you choose the right care at the right time.
Considering your options: where to start
You may see urgent care clinics in your community that advertise evening or weekend hours and no appointments needed. While urgent care can be useful in some situations, the AAP recommends contacting your pediatrician first whenever possible. Many pediatric practices now offer nurse advice lines, on-call clinicians, extended hours, same-day sick visits or telemedicine appointments. Many concerns can be handled safely with guidance by phone.
If your pediatrician cannot see your child but feels an exam is needed, they can help you decide where your child should be seen and how quickly. This step can prevent unnecessary visits, higher costs, or care in a setting that may not be well suited for children.
Types of nonemergency acute care
Urgent care centers
These settings treat illnesses or injuries that are not life threatening but still need prompt attention. Many are open evenings, weekends and holidays and may offer services such as X rays, basic lab tests, EKGs, respiratory treatments and simple procedures.
Some urgent care centers specialize in pediatric care. Pediatric specific urgent care centers are preferred when available because they are more likely to have clinicians trained in caring for infants, children and adolescents. Many urgent care centers, however, treat mostly adults and may have limited pediatric expertise.
Urgent care centers may have higher co-pays or higher service costs versus the medical home, although they are far less expensive than an ER. Some freestanding emergency departments may look like urgent care centers but bill as emergency care, which can be misleading and much more costly.
Retail-based clinics
Retail-based clinics are often located inside pharmacies, grocery stores or "big box" warehouse stores. They usually offer a narrow range of services and follow strict treatment protocols. These clinics are typically staffed by nurse practitioners or physician assistants and often have age limits, diagnosis restrictions and limited testing available.
Retail based clinics may be convenient for certain services, such as seasonal vaccines, but they are generally not equipped to provide acute or comprehensive care for children.
Telemedicine
Telemedicine is most useful when it is part of the child's medical home, but is readily available through many online services.
Because there’s no hands-on exam or testing, telemedicine has limits. Still, it can help with simple, visible issues—especially when you’re traveling or need care after hours and an in-person visit isn’t needed.
When choosing telemedicine, it’s helpful to choose services that have pediatric expertise, can offer care in the state you’re calling from, and can offer continuation of care (if in-person care is deemed necessary).
When choosing a telemedicine service, look for one that:
Telehealth services that are not connected to your pediatrician may lack access to your child’s medical history and can lead to unnecessary testing or medication use. That's why it's important to ask the clinic to send a visit summary to your pediatrician (see more on this, below).
Special considerations for babies and young children
Children under
age 2 need special pediatric care. Illness can change quickly in young children and symptoms are harder to evaluate.
For this reason, the AAP does not recommend retail based clinics, direct-to-consumer telehealth services, or care settings without pediatric expertise for children younger than age 2 years.
When a baby or toddler needs same-day care, a pediatrician or a pediatric focused urgent care or emergency department is usually the safest option.
What to do if your child receives care outside the pediatrician’s office
If your child receives care somewhere other than their pediatrician’s office, sharing accurate health information helps keep care safe.
Be prepared to:
Confirm whether immunizations are up-to-date
Share any medication allergies
List all medicines your child is taking, and when the last dose was given
Mention ongoing conditions such as asthma, diabetes or heart disease
It’s also important to make sure your child’s pediatrician knows about the visit. If the clinic or telehealth service cannot send a visit summary to your pediatrician, request copies of the records and share them with your pediatrician as soon as possible. This helps reduce missed follow-up and repeat testing.
Remember
Urgent care, telehealth and other care options can play an important role in helping families get care when they need it. The most important factor is not where your child is seen but whether the care is high quality, appropriate for children and connected with your child’s medical home.
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