Urgent vs. Emergency Care: How to Choose

Call 911 or head straight to the emergency room if:

• Your child's skin or lips have turned blue
• Your child is unresponsive or difficult to wake up
• Your child is having difficulty breathing (look for signs of the chest retracting and lips and/or fingers turning blue)

You should also head to the emergency room for:

• Allergic reactions; severe with trouble breathing or vomiting
• Asthma attack; trouble breathing after treatment
• Broken bone; bone coming out of the skin or obvious deformity
• Burns (chemical, electrical or acid); serious, including any to the eyes
• Concern for abuse or neglect
• Cuts that won’t stop bleeding
• Dehydration or severe fluid loss
• Difficulty responding or waking up
• Eye pain; blunt or penetrating injury
• Fever; babies younger than 60 days old
• Headache; severe with neck pain, blurred vision, difficulty speaking, numbness, tingling or paralysis
• Head injury with persistent vomiting or changes in behavior and alertness
• Ingestions; call Poison Control first at 1-800-222-1222
• Insect bite or sting with trouble breathing
• Lethargy; severe, or noticeably less activity than usual
• Mental health crisis; anyone under the age of 18 who may be suicidal, homicidal or could be a threat to themselves or others
• Migraine; blurred vision, difficulty speaking, numbness, tingling or paralysis
• Numbness, paralysis, weakness or vision loss
• Object stuck in skin or eye (note: don’t pull it out)
• Seizures that won’t stop or include a change in behavior
• Sexual abuse
• Slurred speech or trouble speaking
• Stomach pain, severe or on the lower right side
• Suicide attempt
• Swallowed button battery
• Swallowed object; trouble breathing 

Remember, these are guidelines. If at any point you believe your child needs immediate emergency care, take them to the closest emergency department or call 911.

Urgent care treats everyday injuries and illnesses when your doctor is not available. If it's after hours and your child is experiencing one of the following minor symptoms, urgent care is a good choice.

• Allergies; seasonal
• Allergic reactions; no trouble breathing
• Asthma attack; no trouble breathing
• Bloody nose
• Broken bone or fracture; no deformity
• Burns; minor
• Cold; minor with congestion and stuffiness
• Constipation
• Cuts; minor that may require stitches
• Diarrhea
• Ear pain or tugging
• Fainting; otherwise acting normal
• Fever; babies 60 days and older
• Headaches; mild
• Head injury; no behavior change
• Insect bite or sting
• Object stuck in nose or ear
• Pain when peeing
• Pink eye
• Rash or skin irritation
• Seizure that stops on its own; no lasting change in behavior
• Sinus infection
• Sore throat
• Sprain; no deformity
• Stomach pain; mild
• Swallowed objects; no trouble breathing
• Vomiting

Note: These are guidelines; if at any point you believe your child needs immediate emergency care, take them to the emergency room or call 911.

Children's Colorado's urgent care facilities are all staffed with board-certified pediatricians. They are well equipped to determine if your child is too ill for urgent care, in which case they will stabilize them and send him or her to a Children's Colorado emergency department immediately.

Additionally, you can call Children's Colorado's ParentSmart Healthline™ at 720-777-0123 to speak with a registered nurse 24/7 who can help guide you to the best location. Children's Colorado also has a free mobile app with helpful resources on assessing your child's illness.

Emergency care

Emergency departments at Children's Colorado are equipped to handle the most serious injuries and illnesses. In fact, Children's Hospital Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus is the only dedicated pediatric regional trauma center in our seven-state region, handling the most challenging emergencies.

Emergency departments are located in hospitals, which means they accept ambulances, may have a helipad, and can admit your child to an inpatient bed within the hospital, if that becomes necessary. In general, it is more expensive to go to the emergency department.

Urgent care

There is no difference in the skill level of physicians staffing Children's Colorado's urgent care facilities and some of our emergency departments. We prepare our urgent care facilities to help kids who need medical attention for non-life-threatening conditions, like an ear infection or broken arm. 

Going to urgent care in a non-emergency situation can help ensure that our emergency departments do not become overwhelmed with patients who do not need as many emergency resources. This can help all kids get the level of care they need, faster.

Whether you go to a Children's Colorado urgent care or emergency department, it will be specially equipped to handle the unique needs of your child.

Children are not small adults. Even in an urgent or emergency situation, pediatric expertise matters. Here’s why:

Pediatric emergency medicine doctors are specially trained to care for kids

Pediatric emergency medicine physicians have three additional years of pediatric emergency training compared to general emergency medicine physicians and pediatricians. In addition to making kids (and their families) feel more secure and at ease in emergency situations, their skills in pediatrics allow pediatric emergency medicine physicians to be more comfortable with both the common and not-so-common pediatric emergency medical conditions. This allows them to make the proper diagnosis faster and with fewer and less invasive tests, which can make the process quicker and usually less painful.

Pediatric centers have kid-sized equipment and tests

Children are developing and changing every day. They have faster heart rates, growing bones and smaller airways. Kids also respond to medical tests, drugs and treatments differently, making specialized equipment and testing critical. While other emergency departments have equipment needed to diagnose and treat the general adult population, Children’s Colorado has specialized equipment that is designed for children and teens – and we have teams who know how to use it.

Learn other ways that children’s medical needs are different.

Learn why pediatric radiation is safer for kids.

And unlike other hospitals and urgent care locations, we partner with your child's pediatrician or your family doctor to make sure we work together and communicate about your child’s care.

Whether you take your child to a Children's Colorado emergency department or urgent care facility, your child will see a board-certified pediatrician or advanced level provider (nurse practitioner or physician assistant).

Our emergency locations are staffed sites 24/7 with doctors who are board certified and/or eligible in pediatric emergency medicine.

Find our urgent care locations.

Find our emergency locations.

• When you arrive at Children's Colorado, a triage nurse will assess your child's illness. Then you will go to the waiting room until the care team is ready to see your child.
• The providers at our facilities always see the sickest patients first. If the triage nurse believes that your child may have a life-threatening condition, the care team will see them immediately. If another child arrives after you, but sees a care team before you, it means his or her illness is more serious. However, Children's Colorado will always try to accommodate everybody in a timely fashion.
• Patients who come to a Children's Colorado emergency department or urgent care may not always receive a prescription for medication; the physician will advise on a care plan that will most effectively heal your child, which may or may not include medication.
• Children's Colorado has many kid-friendly medications for sedation and pain. Our pediatric experts also know about the many different ways to give the medications to make the delivery of medication or procedure less painful (such as by the mouth, through the nose, in the vein, or by using numbing creams).
• If your child takes a prescription medication, try to bring the bottle(s) with you to help the team better understand the type and dose of medicine.
• If you are concerned that your child has a broken bone or may have appendicitis, do not give him or her anything to eat or drink before seeking care.

Know before you go: Please review our policies and procedures for up-to-date information on visitors, face covering requirements and more during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Because our emergency departments are equipped with the most high-tech, lifesaving equipment, as well as a larger, supportive staff, it is usually more expensive to be seen in the emergency department.

We accept all insurance providers available in Colorado. Learn more about insurance and billing at Children’s Colorado.

Learn more about your insurance and potential costs

Many parents are concerned about the cost of taking their child to the emergency department or urgent care. To prepare, make sure you know your benefits and make sure you know the difference between your co-pay for urgent care and emergency care.

If you are unsure, call your insurance company and speak with a representative who should be able to explain your benefits, costs and co-pays. Children's Colorado's patient cost estimate team may also be able to help.

Hang a handy guide on the refrigerator

We've created a guide and map to download, print and keep on hand:

Remember, you can always use our website to see a list of open Children's Colorado locations.

Set up Medical ID on your child’s phone in case of emergency

Did you know you can set up Medical ID on your child's smartphone to give first responders access to your child's health information in case of an emergency? Watch this video learn how to set this feature up on your kid's phone.