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Acute Care

Acute Care at NorthShore

Acute care is the opposite of chronic care as in patients receive active but short-term treatment for an unexpected illness, injury or urgent care medical condition. In other words, acute care is any type of visit that needs immediate medical attention for a temporary condition that can be successfully treated.

NorthShore ensures patients have the ability to be seen and treated by offering same day appointments and accepting walk-in patients. All of our locations have extended hours with Portage, Lake Station, Schererville, Crown Point, and St. John until 8pm. These clinics along with the Hammond clinic also offer Saturday hours to allow for treatment of these last minute or unexpected needs for a visit with a doctor.

Acute care can include:

  • After hours care – We realize that sometimes patients need to be seen for a medical issue after normal business hours and before the office opens again the next day; therefore, we offer walk-in and same day appointments for these urgent care needs.
  • Cold – Symptoms for a cold might include sneezing, stuffy nose, sore throat, mild or moderate chest discomfort, fatigue, weakness, and slight body aches. A cold usually does not cause an abrupt onset of symptoms such as a fever or a headache.
  • Flu – Symptoms of the flu include an abrupt onset of symptoms such as a fever, body aches, the chills, fatigue, weakness, chest discomfort, and headaches. The flu may or may not cause sneezing, a stuffy nose, or a sore throat.
  • Minor Cuts– Seek care if your cut does not stop bleeding after applying pressure for five minutes, it is wide open, it is spurting blood, the cut is located on your face or neck or there is any material trapped in the cut.
  • Bruising – Bruising can occur on your bones and on soft tissue. If you bruise a bone, you may not have any symptoms visual to the naked-eye. Symptoms of a bone being bruised are stiffness, trouble bending the area, swelling or tenderness of the area, or continual pain that is not progressively getting better. If you bruise soft tissue which includes bruising of the skin, muscle, or both, these bruises can have similar symptoms as if you bruised a bone.
  • Sprains – When a sprain happens, this means that one or more of the ligaments in your body are torn or stretched. Ligaments are the tough fibrous tissue that holds together your bones. The symptoms of a sprain include pain in the affected area, swelling, bruising, and difficulty in using the affected joint.
  • Strains – A strain is an injury to a muscle or tendon in your body, rather than to a ligament. Symptoms of a strain include pain, muscle spasms, swelling, cramping, and trouble moving the affected area.
  • Minor Burns –Seek care for burns when the burn goes all the way around your hand or foot, you have increasing pain, when caused by an electrical or chemical source, it is oozing puss, it is longer than 3 inches, or it is on your face or over a joint
  • Rashes – Seek care for rashes when it spreads all over your body, it appeared suddenly, it is painful or infected, it starts to blister, or if you are also experiencing a fever with the rash.

 

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