What Is Acute Care and When Do I Need It?

To put it in layman’s terms, acute care is inpatient care, in contrast to ambulatory care, or outpatient care. In an acute care setting, you remain under constant, round-the-clock care. 

You generally need acute care when it comes to minor to major traumatic injuries, care for chronic disease, and recovery from life-threatening illnesses. Acute care intervention is incredibly important, as it’s often life-saving and performed within the first 24 hours following an emergency.     

At Sulkowski Family Medicine, Dr. Thomas Sulkowski and his team are here to provide you with a comprehensive explanation of the different kinds of acute care and the type that we provide. This guide will better help you to understand when you need to seek out acute care.  

The different types of acute care

Acute care can take place in emergency or non-emergency medical facilities, including hospitals, nursing homes, and clinics. The types of care that are included in acute care include:

• Emergency care - emergency department treatment in limb- or life-threatening situations
• Trauma care and acute care surgery - treatment involving acute surgical intervention 

• Urgent care - immediate care outside of an emergency department, usually on a walk-in basis, like the kind of acute care that we provide here at Sulkowski Family Medicine

• Short-term stabilization - treatment that precedes definite acute care, like receiving IV fluids before surgery

• Prehospital care - care administered before arrival at a facility, such as intervention from paramedics in an ambulance
• Critical care - care for those with life-threatening conditions who require constant monitoring, like those in intensive care units

Now that we’ve covered what acute care is, it’s important to know when you need it. This is particularly true when you take into consideration that in the U.S., one-third of all health services account for acute care. 

How we do acute care

At Sulkowski Family Medicine, we’re here to provide you acute care in the form of immediate care, non-emergency intervention in a clinic setting. Some of the acute issues that we treat include:

• Cold
• Flu
• Sore throat
• Sinus infection
• Ear infection

If you have one or more of the following symptoms, you should make an appointment with us, as they are symptoms of the above conditions:

• Sore throat
• Body aches
• Nausea
• Fever
• Swollen glands
• Fatigue

If you have severe symptoms, like a traumatic break or serious bleeding, go to the emergency room immediately, as you need more care than we can provide.

If you do have an immediate care need, call us or schedule an appointment right on our website today.