In 1970’s some care centers initially opened a service called urgent care. This service is primarily used for treatment of injuries and illness that seeks an immediate remedy. However it is not like a hospital emergency that is open all the times. Urgent care centers provide the care for the patients in a hospital emergency department but often, they are not open on continuous basis.

An urgent care team is composed of Board Certified Physicians, physical assistants, registered nurses, nurse practitioners, and technicians. It also includes on-call specialists like cardiologists and surgeons.

Primary care includes a wide range of health care, which focuses on promotion of a healthy life style and disease prevention. Some of these services are diagnostics and long-term check-ups, while maintaining focus on personal and continuous medical care for each family member. This type of service goes beyond treating disease and injuries because additional services such as therapy and travel physicals are also provided.

In contrast to emergency department, a planned nature of patient attendance is possible for an urgent care center. Some states in the USA have freestanding emergency departments located outside a hospital building. Authorities often consider most free-standing emergency centers to be identified as high-acuity urgent care centers.

Some care centers like Nova urgent care center are extremely accessible and can be excellent alternatives to emergency rooms of a hospital when there is a need of immediate medical car for non-severe illnesses. It is not necessary to have an appointment, and to aid continuous care, a copy of the medical encounter is directly sent to the physician providing the primary care.

Another difference between an urgent care center and an emergency department is the scope of care given to the patients. In urgent care centers, primary health care is provided for the whole family. Its scope extends from giving care to a newborn to advanced medical care for the elders. One good example of a center that provides this service is the South Riding Family Medicine.

Lastly, most urgent care centers such as Nova urgent care offer preventive diagnostic and therapeutic services such as pediatrics, immunization, gynecology, orthopedics, internal medicine and physical therapy for injuries.