Acute Care at NorthShore

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

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, 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, spurts blood, the cut is located on your face or neck, or any material is 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 visual symptoms to the naked eye. Symptoms of a bone being bruised are stiffness, trouble bending the area, swelling or tenderness, or continual pain that is not progressively improving. If you bruise soft tissue, including skin, muscle, or both bruises, 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 spread all over your body, it appear suddenly, it is painful or infected, it start to blister, or if you are also experiencing a fever with the rash.