urgent care

noun

Definition of urgent care

1 : medical care provided for illnesses or injuries which require prompt attention but are typically not of such seriousness as to require the services of an emergency room … they have turned to one of the fastest-growing segments of American health care: urgent care, a common category of walk-in clinics with uncommon interest from Wall Street.— Julie Creswell —often used before another noun If your leg or arm is sore and swollen, go to an urgent care center; if you have chest pain, shortness of breath or you're coughing up blood, get to an emergency room.— Rick NathansonThe athlete sustains an inversion or eversion ankle injury and is evaluated at a local emergency room or urgent care facility.— James S. Keene

2 : medical care of an urgent nature Strokes now are the focus of a broad new public-awareness campaign labeling them as "brain attacks," needing the same urgent care as heart attacks.— Marilyn Chase

Examples of urgent care in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

At each stage, patients were triaged to identify who needed the most urgent care. — Alex Hutchinson, Outside Online, "The Devastating Aftermath of an Avalanche on Everest," 6 July 2018 And by the end of 2016, the Jordans were deep in the hole to doctors, hospitals, an anesthesiologist, urgent care and various labs and testing centers. — John Tozzi And Zachary Tracer, latimes.com, "How sky-high deductibles broke the U.S. health insurance system," 26 June 2018 Doctors who feel stressed or burned out are getting some urgent care. — Lucette Lagnado, WSJ, "Hospitals Address Widespread Doctor Burnout," 9 June 2018 Less than two hours after the attack, Micheli limped into an urgent care facility in Gallatin, about 35 miles from the Belle Meade community where the attack occurred, according to surveillance photos tweeted by police. — CBS News, "Tennessee hatchet murder suspect caught in Kentucky," 6 June 2018 OrthoExpress will offer urgent care specifically for orthopedic injuries, such as fractures, dislocations and sprains. — William Thornton, AL.com, "OrthoExpress opening Chelsea location March 1," 19 Feb. 2018 The clinic will have 15 medical exam rooms, eight dental stations, four behavioral-health offices, a pharmacy, a vision exam room, an X-ray lab, an urgent care room, a laboratory and administrative offices. — Kate Santich, OrlandoSentinel.com, "Orlando nonprofit gets financing deal to build major new health clinic in Ivey Lane area," 29 June 2018 Not long after the emergence of retail clinics, the health care industry saw the rise of concierge medicine, urgent care centers, and telemedicine. — Peter Miller, STAT, "How early retail health clinics set the stage for today’s mega-mergers," 11 June 2018 The urgent care physician and avid runner had been crushed by a boulder that had tumbled down the rugged bluff that golden April morning. — Cathy Free, PEOPLE.com, "Woman, 31, Crushed and Paralyzed by Falling Boulder During Beach Visit to Compete in Half Marathon," 29 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'urgent care.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.