Urgent care centers often provide a range of diagnostic services, including laboratory testing. Blood tests designed to detect the presence of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), a hormone produced during pregnancy, are generally within the capabilities of many urgent care facilities. The availability of this service allows for the confirmation of pregnancy through a quantitative or qualitative blood sample analysis.
The benefit of obtaining a blood pregnancy test at an urgent care lies in its potential for earlier and more accurate detection compared to home urine tests. Blood tests can detect pregnancy sooner after conception than urine tests, and they offer a quantitative measurement of hCG levels, which can be helpful in certain clinical situations. Historically, early pregnancy detection relied solely on clinical signs and urine-based assays. The introduction of sensitive blood tests significantly improved the ability to confirm pregnancy in its earliest stages.