Urgent Care vs Primary Care

If you’ve experienced a new injury or illness, it’s important to know when you should go to your primary care doctor or seek out an urgent care center. To help you differentiate between these two types of care, we’ve outlined the difference between primary and urgent care here. 

LibertyMed Health in Glendale, California, offers both primary care and urgent care services to meet all of your family’s health needs. Our team, led by Dr. Ara Shafrazian and Dr. Arthur Babakhanians, takes a holistic approach to keep you healthy. Whether you’re dealing with a chronic condition like diabetes or an acute injury like a cut or a sprain, we can treat your ongoing and urgent needs.

What is primary care?

You may already know our primary care providers can treat your long-term conditions, give you regular checkups, and treat minor injuries like cuts, sprains, and bruises. Your primary care provider serves as your first contact for any non-emergency medical concerns. 

Some of the main goals of primary care are promoting healthy lifestyles and preventing disease. That’s why patient education, health counseling, and early diagnosis are a huge part of a primary care practice. 

But our role doesn’t end there: We also help you maintain your long-term health. We track any changes to your health so we can offer you guidance and support if you develop any troubling symptoms. 

For example, if you’re experiencing difficulty breathing for more than a month, we work with you to diagnose any underlying conditions by reviewing your symptoms and conducting diagnostic tests. Once we have an idea of your underlying cause, we may coordinate with an appropriate specialist to help manage your condition. 

We also offer preventive care to help you avoid health problems. At LibertyMed Health, we offer a wide range of preventive services and management services for a variety of concerns, including:

• Men’s health care
• Women’s health care
• Mental health care
• Diabetes management
• Heart disease
• Kidney disease
• Lung disease

With our years of expertise in preventive care, we can ensure your family is equipped with the knowledge and guidance you need to stay in great health. 

What is urgent care?

Our primary care services focus on preventive and routine care. We also offer urgent care services for those times when you need immediate medical attention.

While emergency rooms are appropriate for illnesses or injuries that might cause disability or death if not treated immediately, urgent care is appropriate for problems that require medical attention within 24 hours. Here are just a few of the conditions our trained urgent care team can help with: 

• Allergic reactions
• Wounds and lacerations
• Nausea and vomiting 
• Pneumonia 
• Chest Pain 
• Sprains and strains
• Rashes 
• Sinusitis 
• Ear infections 
• Sore throat 
• Fevers 
• Vaginitis 
• Migraines 

The next time you have a primary care or urgent care need, contact LibertyMed Health by calling us at 818-241-4129. You can also book online today.