urgent care

noun

|Updated on: 15 Jun 2018

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 Nathanson

The 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

Recent Examples of urgent care from the Web

An urgent care clinic that has provided care to residents on Milwaukee's north side for 32 years will close soon because of non-payment of property taxes and rent to the city.

— meg jones, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Urgent care clinic on Milwaukee's north side has gotten eviction notice," 5 Apr. 2018
His mother drove him to an urgent care center four miles away in Winter Garden.

— stephen hudak, OrlandoSentinel.com, "Aggressive squirrels drive Orange County park staff, visitors nuts," 23 May 2018
Many of those affected have sought medical treatment with their primary physician or through urgent care centers, the release said.

— zachary hansen, ajc, "Salmonella outbreak in Newton County hospitalizes 4, affects at least 70," 17 May 2018
And three new urgent care centers, co-branded with the University of Miami Health System, have opened in Country Walk, Cutler Bay and North Miami — with two more planned for Doral and Miami Gardens.

— daniel chang, miamiherald, "Your taxes are paying for this $1.5 billion makeover to Miami's public hospital system | Miami Herald," 9 May 2018
South Shore Health System plans to partner with Health Express and become connected to its seven urgent cares, from Quincy to Plymouth, by July 1.

— jean lang, BostonGlobe.com, "Hospitals branch out in the suburbs with more urgent care centers," 10 May 2018
For instance, the county has had some resistances from a medical association that objected to a plan that would allow paramedics to take someone directly to a mental health urgent care center rather than an emergency room.

— gary warth, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Push begins to coordinate mental health, law efforts," 30 Apr. 2018
To get his therapeutic marijuana license Dr. Victor Chou, a physician based in Baton Rouge, left his job at an urgent care center.

— maria clark, NOLA.com, "Medical marijuana is coming to Louisiana. But will any doctors recommend it?," 27 Apr. 2018
Schmidtke also picked up the meat and ended up in respiratory distress and on a ventilator at an urgent care clinic.

— aimee green, OregonLive.com, "Man who flung ricin-laced meat at neighbor's dogs agrees to pay $80k," 23 Apr. 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.