Urgent Care vs. Emergency Room: Which One to Choose

Modified: Dec. 4, 2025

Healthcare 101: Should You Visit the ER or an Urgent Care Center?

When you’re sick or hurt, should you head to the hospital or an urgent care clinic? Cost is one part of the equation (and for some people it’s the biggest factor). But it is important that you get the right kind of care quickly — and that’s not something you can always see in a price tag.

If you don’t need emergency care, visiting a walk-in urgent care clinic is more affordable than the ER and it can also help free up those resources for people experiencing life-threatening emergencies.

When faced with making this decision, you’ll need to assess how serious the injury is — and how quickly medical attention is needed. Asking yourself these two simple questions can help take the guesswork out of where to seek treatment for accidents and illnesses.

1) How severe is your problem?

For critical (life- or limb-threatening) situations, don’t hesitate to go to the emergency room or call 911. True emergencies include chest pain, seizures, compound fractures, extreme pain and excessive bleeding.

Emergency rooms are most often located in hospitals, although there are some free-standing options in some areas.

Note: Be careful not to confuse free-standing ERs with urgent care clinics, as the freestanding ER’s still come with big bills — even if you have insurance.

When choosing between care at a hospital or urgent care walk-in clinic, consider the severity of the illness or injury. Any condition that threatens the loss of life should be treated in an emergency room setting. This includes deep cuts or serious injuries to the eyes or limbs.

The following list is not exhaustive, but it provides you a few guidelines for what requires ER care:

• severe abdominal pain
• poisoning from household products
• compound fractures (anything protruding from skin)
• seizures, loss of consciousness and/or convulsions
• bleeding that is heavy or difficult to control
• severe difficulty breathing
• serious chest pain

However, if your injury or illness is not life-threatening, then it might be best to head to your nearest urgent care center, like CareSpot, for an evaluation. Urgent care facilities are equipped to handle issues including pulled or strained muscles; minor cuts, bruises and burns; eye abrasions; removal of foreign objects; minor auto accident injuries; and more. CareSpot clinics can also provide IV treatment for dehydration, sutures for minor lacerations, and digital X-rays for sprains or fractures.

At its core, an urgent care facility is a well-equipped medical clinic that can diagnose and treat a wide range of minor injuries and illnesses. “Minor” refers to those which don’t threaten the loss of life, eyesight, or limbs.

Many urgent care clinics provide COVID-19 evaluations and tests. But severe symptoms might require treatment at a hospital.

Other conditions urgent care clinics can treat include:

• flu-like symptoms, severe cough, or sore throat
• eye irritation
• bleeding and/or cuts that could require stitches
• strains and sprains
• skin infections and rashes
• vomiting and/or dehydration
• diagnosis of minor fractures / broken bones via X-ray
• diagnostics such as laboratory tests and X-rays

That list makes urgent care centers sound a lot like a doctor’s office. But there are two big differences. First, urgent care clinics usually have evening, weekend and holiday hours. Second, you can usually be seen quickly at an urgent care center — no appointment required.

Urgent care patients are often seen on a first-come, first-served basis, though the severity of a patient’s condition does matter. Some urgent care facilities also provide online scheduling for additional convenience.

Urgent care facilities also usually offer more on-site services than primary care doctors, including X-rays and lab tests. They also perform services that emergency rooms may not, such as school physicals, flu shots, and other vaccinations.

2) How soon do you need treatment?

Unfortunately, accidents are inevitable, and they rarely happen at a convenient time. Keep in mind that if you are experiencing an emergency (like the ones listed above), you should head straight to the ER or call 911. But for non-life-threatening medical issues that arise after hours, urgent care centers are a convenient option. At urgent care centers, you’ll usually encounter shorter wait times for non-life-threatening issues than you would at an ER, and you’ll also incur less cost.

Our urgent care locations offer extended hours seven days a week and can usually accommodate walk-in patients within an hour or two. You can help reduce your wait before walking in by finding a CareSpot clinic near you to save a spot in advance.

A good rule for the “ER or urgent care” question: if you or a loved one is experiencing a health issue that you would normally head to a primary care office for treatment, an urgent care is likely a good option if your regular doctor is unavailable.

After further evaluation, an urgent care clinic can transfer you to an emergency room, primary care physician, or specialist for more specialized or ongoing care if needed.