Do you trust urgent care centers?

My DH and I have had pretty stellar experiences at the Urgent Care Center we use (my husband specializes in getting sick right before holidays). So, they dxed shingles on July 3rd (he was on antivirals within the hour); he had what might have been passed off as a mere UTI, but a careful physician insisted that I take him to the ER for an immediate blood test because he's on Coumadin and hadn't taken a reading that week. His INR (supposed to be between 2 and 3) was 17. Three day hospital stay.

They patched up my broken nose when I fell and assured me that I had no broken ribs or facial bone damage.

I always email our PCP the results as backup to the patient portal.

I took my mom to one, that was staffed only with a PA and he missed her pneumonia. I would go to one though if I needed stitches or something light like that.

I think the whole idea is to keep the ER as a place that handles real emergencies not broken toes and 2 a.m. earaches, where I live in Canada I like the idea but in my opinion there aren't enough of them and the hours are limited. We also have walk-in clinics, which judging by the long lines are very popular. Unfortunately a non urgent trip to the ER can still take 5 or more hours, so obviously they haven't solved the problem of over use.

I agree, just as u say, its an in between. Its there when the doctor is not available.

The answer is that it depends. Someone’s satisfactory experience is another person’s disaster, especially when sick kids are involved. An urgent care facility is probably not the place to take Mom or Dad who might be having a dementia meltdown. But if you suspect a UTI, strep throat or an ear infection, UCs are probably better than the ER.