urgent care

noun

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

Examples of urgent care in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

If symptoms develop, call ahead before visiting a doctor, urgent care center or hospital emergency room so precautions may be taken to avoid exposing others. —Kristen Jordan Shamus, Detroit Free Press, 10 Apr. 2024

Valley Healthcare Center Morgan Hill, formally known as De Paul Health Center, will begin operating on Monday and is set to expand primary care and urgent care services for the region. —Luis Melecio-Zambrano, The Mercury News, 15 Mar. 2024

Jones, the protest organizer, said that in addition to the eight people hospitalized, others visited urgent care. —Maham Javaid, Washington Post, 24 Jan. 2024

The development, named Americana West in 2022, would replace the existing St. Luke’s Health System orthopedic and urgent care clinics at the site with an eight-story building that would offer 335 studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments. —Nick Rosenberger, Idaho Statesman, 2 Apr. 2024

The Star has contacted eight local hospital systems and three nearby urgent care centers to gather the data on these casualties. —Natalie Wallington, Kansas City Star, 15 Feb. 2024

Go to a hospital or urgent care: If possible, have someone drive you to the nearest hospital or medical facility equipped to handle snake bites. —The Arizona Republic, 23 Mar. 2024

If symptoms develop, call ahead before visiting a doctor, urgent care, or hospital emergency room to avoid exposing others. —Kristen Jordan Shamus, Detroit Free Press, 21 Mar. 2024

Now, after renovations have been completed, the site is opening to the public, offering a slate of services including primary care, walk-in urgent care, and a pharmacy as well as radiology and gastrointestinal care. —Luis Melecio-Zambrano, The Mercury News, 15 Mar. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1973, in the meaning defined at sense 1