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 One analysis conducted by the health insurer UnitedHealthcare found that the average cost for a visit related to a common condition like a fever or cough was 19 times higher in free-standing emergency rooms than in urgent care centers. — New York Times, "‘It Felt Like Deception’: An Elite NYC Hospital Charges Huge Virus Test Fees," 30 Mar. 2021 Construction of the campus is not supposed to affect hours at the existing urgent care facility. — Taylor Seely, The Arizona Republic, "Phoenix Children's Hospital to build emergency department, specialty services in the Southwest Valley," 20 Mar. 2021 The couple did not have business at the urgent care center, so personnel there were unable to identify them. — cleveland, "Man fires gun into air during argument in urgent care center lot: Lyndhurst police blotter," 16 Dec. 2020 Hospitals are the first stop, but eventually people will be able to get vaccinated in a doctor’s office, urgent care center, pharmacy or other location. — Meredith Cohn, baltimoresun.com, "First doses of COVID-19 vaccine injected into health care workers in Maryland," 14 Dec. 2020 The juvenile was taken from the urgent care center to a hospital, where he was declared dead, police said. — Kieran Nicholson, The Denver Post, "Juvenile male dies after being left at Denver urgent care center," 22 Jan. 2020 He was taken to an urgent care clinic and dead by the time deputies arrived. — oregonlive, "Man arrested in Beaverton after pursuit on suspicion of killing Portland man last month," 5 Mar. 2021 Afraid of getting coronavirus, Michiganders avoid urgent care centers, emergency rooms. — Frank Witsil, Detroit Free Press, "Coronavirus in Michigan: A timeline of how the pandemic unfolded since last year," 9 Mar. 2021 Up until now, the department kept its own list of coronavirus deaths, relying on initial reports filed by hospitals, urgent care centers and health districts. — Robert Higgs, cleveland, "36 new cases of COVID-19 coronavirus confirmed in Cleveland, seven new deaths recorded: Tuesday update," 3 Mar. 2021

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.