Urgent care models to bridge emergency and primary care

Primary care services after hours in Alberta are limited, and, as a result, emergency departments have long wait times and overcrowding as they accommodate a greater number of low-acuity conditions. In recent decades, various urgent care models have been established to fill the gap between emergency and primary care, with the aim of providing unscheduled services for urgent but non-life- or limb-threatening conditions. The extant models have different mandates and services, and vary according to the degree of service availability, acuity of patients, continuity of care, hours of operation, location, and populations served. With the recent rapid increase of urgent care services, and lack of a common definition for and arrangement of the services, a summary of the research outlining available urgent care models and their effectiveness is warranted. This is a rapid review of recent literature that reports on urgent care models and their effectiveness.