Have an OB-GYN concern that can’t wait? You have options.

Have you ever had to go to a regular urgent care and wait for hours just to get a prescription for what you already know is a urinary tract infection (UTI)? Or experienced early pregnancy bleeding and been unable to see your obstetrician right away?

A wide variety of scenarios can send women to the emergency room or to the on-call nurse at their OB-GYN. Still, the reality is that most women are familiar with having to wait longer than they would like.

But what if there were another way? In Charlotte, two specialized urgent care clinics in south Charlotte and Concord offer walk-in after-hours care for OB-GYN patients.

Heather Bartha, a women’s health nurse practitioner at Novant Health OB/GYN Urgent Care - Poplar Tent in Concord, said the clinics draw women from more than an hour away. She discusses when women should consider seeking urgent care for OB-GYN issues.

How is an OB-GYN urgent care different from your regular primary care provider, the hospital, or just urgent care?

The OB-GYN urgent care clinics were developed to try to bridge the gap between OB-GYN offices, which close at 5 p.m., and emergency rooms. Our main goal is to provide after-hours specialized OB-GYN care from trained women’s health clinicians and offer an option other than the emergency room for problems that don't reach the level of a true emergency.

What are your hours, and where can people find you?

We’re open from 5 to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. We have two offices: Novant Health OB/GYN Urgent Care - Poplar Tent and Novant Health OB/GYN Urgent Care - Carmel. We also do virtual visits Monday through Friday from 1 to 5 p.m.

What do you treat?

For pregnant patients, our most common concerns are usually early pregnancy bleeding and potential miscarriage. We can see pregnant patients for anything pregnancy-related, as well as upper respiratory concerns. We can also offer the pregnant patient reassurance with ultrasound if warranted.

We treat a variety of gynecological concerns, like testing for sexually transmitted diseases, vaginitis, urinary tract infections, pelvic pain and abnormal uterine bleeding.

Historically, about 60% of our patients have come in for something gynecological, while about 40% of our patients have come in for something obstetric (pregnancy-related).

When should patients seek immediate care at the OB-GYN urgent care clinics?

Minor bleeding in early pregnancy, many times, can be evaluated at these clinics. Bleeding in full-term pregnancies usually require evaluation in a medical center labor and delivery instead. A phone call to your doctor may help making that determination to get you to the right place.

Pelvic pain that is severe enough that it’s not resolved with Ibuprofen or Tylenol, or doesn’t turn out to be gas pain, also warrants immediate evaluation.

Abnormal uterine bleeding is another one — bleeding that is not a part of your normal menstrual cycle. Eventually, your ob-gyn does have to manage abnormal uterine bleeding, but our job is to ensure you’re stable — or keep you stable — and refer you back to your ob-gyn.

Mastitis, or inflammation of breast tissue, requires immediate medical attention as well. And I would encourage any woman experiencing breastfeeding issues to seek prompt care with us if she cannot get in with her ob-gyn.

What symptoms do patients often come in for that don’t need immediate care? Or what problems do patients downplay that should be taken more seriously?

We have a lot of concern around menstrual cycles — things like “my period is a day late,” or “it’s been coming, but it’s been lighter or heavier.” A lot of factors can affect cycle changes, including stress, moving, taking Plan B (emergency contraception) and missing birth control pills. These are visits where, if the patient had more information on their body and women’s health, they wouldn’t have needed to come in.

We will be glad to make sure you are stable, but your primary ob-gyn will manage your irregular cycles. We can make referrals and assist you with making an appointment.

Luckily, we don’t get situations that go the other way a lot — where we get someone in the office and tell them they’ve got to go straight to the emergency room.

How do you address patient anxiety when symptoms aren’t medically urgent?

I try to reassure them. That can mean bringing the ultrasound in and just letting them see the baby or letting them hear the heartbeat. I pray with my patients if the opportunity arises — I always ask, of course. And I just let them know that we’re here. I tell them if they need us, they can call the office or send me a chat. It's going to be okay.

The two things I tell patients the most are, “If it helps you sleep at night, come back,” and “We’re here.”

Where does urgent care reach its treatment limits?

If there are any concerns that a patient is in labor, if there’s bleeding during pregnancy and we can’t determine the cause, or if the pregnancy is ectopic, those are all reasons we would send someone to the emergency department or to labor and delivery at the hospital.

An ectopic pregnancy is a pregnancy that occurs outside of the uterus. These pregnancies are not viable and usually result in early miscarriage, but they can cause danger to the pregnant person.

Ovarian torsion is an emergency that we would identify in our clinic and then send a patient to the emergency department. That's very rare but requires quick action. Sometimes high blood pressure during pregnancy or postpartum will also get you a trip to the emergency department or to labor and delivery.