Emergency Care in South Carolina

An emergency room (ER) is equipped to treat life-threatening and serious medical emergencies — such as heart attacks, strokes, severe trauma, and conditions that may require surgery or hospital admission. Urgent care is designed for non-life-threatening illness and injury that cannot wait for a primary care appointment, such as infections, minor fractures, and lacerations. Emergency rooms are open 24/7 and have access to specialists, operating rooms, and intensive care. Urgent care centers have extended hours but do not provide hospital-level care. If you are unsure which level of care your situation requires, MUSC Health Emergency & Urgent Care locations offer both under one roof — a physician will assess you on arrival and direct you to the right level of care. 

Call 911 if someone is having a cardiac arrest, has stopped breathing, is unconscious, is having a stroke (face drooping, arm weakness, sudden slurred speech), or is experiencing severe uncontrolled bleeding. In these situations, emergency medical responders can begin treatment on the way to the hospital — something that cannot happen if you drive. If you are unsure whether a situation warrants 911, call 911 anyway. It is always better to call and not need it than to delay life-saving care. 

MUSC Health Emergency & Urgent Care is a network of community-based medical facilities that offer both emergency and urgent care services under one roof. The program is operated through a partnership with Intuitive Health. At each location, a board-certified emergency physician evaluates every patient on arrival and determines the appropriate level of care — emergency or urgent care — without requiring the patient to make that decision in advance. Patients are only billed for the level of care they receive. Current locations include Kiawah, West Ashley, Summerville, Ladson, Florence, and Garners Ferry (opening June 2026). Visit euc.muschealth.org to find a location and check current wait times. 

MUSC Health Emergency & Urgent Care (EUC) is not the same as a traditional urgent care center. EUC locations include a full Emergency Department — not just urgent care services. An emergency-trained physician evaluates every patient, regardless of the reason for the visit. If your condition requires emergency-level treatment, you receive it immediately at the same facility. At a traditional urgent care center, staff can treat non-emergency conditions but do not have the equipment, staffing, or capability to manage medical emergencies. If your situation deteriorates at a traditional urgent care center, you may be transferred to an emergency room. At an EUC location, that transfer is not necessary — both levels of care are already on site. 

Go to the emergency room — or call 911 — for chest pain, difficulty breathing, stroke symptoms, severe injury, loss of consciousness, severe allergic reaction, or any condition that feels immediately life-threatening. Go to urgent care for illness or injury that is uncomfortable or concerning but is not immediately life-threatening — such as fever, minor fractures, infections, lacerations, or a sinus infection. If you cannot determine which applies to your situation, go to a MUSC Health Emergency & Urgent Care location. An emergency-trained physician will evaluate you and make that determination. 

Yes. MUSC Health Emergency & Urgent Care locations accept walk-in patients and do not require an appointment. These facilities offer both emergency and urgent care services. Emergency-trained physicians are on site at all times. MUSC Health Urgent Care centers also accept walk-in patients for non-life-threatening conditions during posted hours. For traditional hospital-based emergency rooms, walk-in patients are always accepted — no appointment is needed. Patients are seen based on the severity of their condition. 

MUSC Health offers two virtual urgent care options. Urgent Care Chat (available through Zipnosis) is a text-based service available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for patients of all ages. It provides diagnosis and treatment — including prescriptions when appropriate — in 10 to 15 minutes, at a flat rate of $35 to $45. Urgent Care Video (available through MyChart) is a live video visit with a MUSC Health provider, available Monday through Sunday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., for patients 6 and older. Insurance is billed or a $45 flat rate applies. Both services are free for State Health Plan members and select groups. Virtual care is appropriate for minor conditions such as cold, flu, rash, UTI, and pink eye — not for emergencies.