Does Your Child Require Urgent Care?

When your child is fussy and feeling unwell, you should make a decision quickly: Where should I take my child? While many parents opt to go to the emergency room or ER, you should know that we here at Westchase Pediatric Care provide urgent care services in both our Tampa, FL, and Clearwater, FL, clinics. But how can you really know if your child needs to go urgent care?

When Should I Take My Child to Urgent Care?

As a general rule of thumb, if your child can still speak, walk, play, and interact, chances are that whatever’s ailing her or him doesn’t require urgent or emergency care. With that said, however, you should consider bringing your child to our urgent care clinic in Westchase, Tampa, FL, or Clearwater, FL, under these circumstances:

• Your child has been vomiting and passing loose stools (diarrhea) without blood, but is not showing any signs of dehydration and has no stomach pain.
• Your child has a moderate temperature along with cold symptoms and you feel that he or she has the flu.
• Your child is complaining about sore throat and is having difficulty eating because of it.
• Your child has infectious conjunctivitis, commonly known as pink eye.
• You think your child has an ear infection; telltale signs include ear pain, ear drainage, and constant ear pulling.

It’s very understandable for parents to have that “just to be on the safe side” mentality when it comes to young kids. In reality, however, plenty of situations don’t really require a trip to the ER and the extra burden on their finances that come along with it. With this in mind, however, “just to be on the safe side”, consider taking your child to urgent care instead.

Does your child need urgent medical care? Westchase Pediatric Care offers urgent care services for kids at our Tampa, FL, and Clearwater, FL, clinics. Walk-in or contact us at (813) 818-1543 or (727) 461-1543 for more details. You can also call our 24-hour number at (727) 346-4011 for more urgent concerns after business hours.