Pediatric Urgent Care at Dolly Parton Children's Hospital
East Tennessee's First Pediatric Urgent Care
Dolly Parton Children’s Hospital Urgent Care supports families and their physicians by delivering immediate medical care for children—newborns to 21 years of age—when their doctor’s office is closed.
Choosing urgent care or the emergency room depends on the severity of the injury or illness, and whether it’s life-threatening.
Urgent care centers do not treat life-threatening illnesses – these conditions need to be treated in the ER immediately. Urgent care centers can treat almost any other non-life-threatening conditions. Here's a handy guide to help you know the difference between an Urgent Care visit and an ER visit:
Urgent Care vs Emergency Department
| Conditions* |
Urgent Care |
Emergency Department |
| Allergies |
✘ |
|
| Allergic reactions (no breathing problems) |
✘ |
|
| Asthma attack (mild wheezing) |
✘ |
|
| Asthma attack (trouble breathing after treatment) |
|
✘ |
| Bite |
✘ |
|
| Broken Bone (bone not coming out of the skin) |
✘ |
|
| Broken Bone (bone coming out of skin) |
|
✘ |
| Bronchitis |
✘ |
|
| Burn (minor) |
✘ |
|
| Burn (serious, including burn to eye, electrical or acid burns, infection or blister) |
|
✘ |
| Cold |
✘ |
|
| Cough |
✘ |
|
| Cut (minor, but need stitches) |
✘ |
|
| Cut (bleeding will not stop) |
|
✘ |
| Dehydration |
|
✘ |
| Diarrhea |
✘ |
|
| Earache |
✘ |
|
| Ear infection |
✘ |
|
| Fainting |
|
✘ |
| Fever (child is older than 2 months) |
✘ |
|
| Fever (child is younger than 2 months) |
|
✘ |
| Flu |
✘ |
|
| Head injury (no loss of consciousness) |
✘ |
|
| Head injury (loss of consciousness) |
|
✘ |
| Laryngitis |
✘ |
|
| Migraine |
✘ |
|
| Pink eye |
✘ |
|
| Pneumonia (no breathing problems |
✘ |
|
| Pneumonia (trouble breathing) |
|
✘ |
| Poisoning |
|
✘ |
| Seizure |
|
✘ |
| Shock |
|
✘ |
| Sinus infection |
✘ |
|
| Sore throat |
✘ |
|
| Sprain |
✘ |
|
| Sting |
✘ |
|
| Stitches |
✘ |
|
| Stomachache (Mild) |
✘ |
|
| Stomachache (Severe) |
|
✘ |
| Strain |
✘ |
|
| Swimmer’s ear |
✘ |
|
| Uncomfortable or Painful Rash |
✘ |
|
| Urinary tract infection |
✘ |
|
| Vomiting |
✘ |
|
*This list does not include all conditions
Our board-certified pediatricians, physician assistants and advanced practice registered nurses treat anything from acute illnesses to minor injuries. They provide state-of-the-art pediatric urgent care, as well as follow-up care by working with your child’s pediatrician.
When you’re in a situation where your child needs urgent care, it can be hard to remember what’s important to bring with you to your urgent care visit. Visit this page for a list of items to help your visit to Dolly Parton Children’s Hospital Urgent Care go as smoothly as possible.
We understand that needing urgent care is rarely convenient with busy schedules, so none of our five locations require an appointment:
