Everyone has experienced a moment when you have to decide if you’re facing a medical emergency.
Perhaps a child has fallen from a high place and is wailing in pain; maybe someone is sporting an unnaturally high fever; or there’s been an accident, and there’s blood everywhere. That’s the time you have to make a snap decision – should you head to the emergency room, an urgent care facility, or call the family doctor?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that in 2014, there were 136.3 million emergency room visits. Of those, 40.2 million were injury-related, with just 11.95 million resulting in hospital admission. About 2.1 percent of those who visit the ER are transferred to a different hospital (psychiatric or other).
Yes, that’s a lot of visits. And just 27 percent of those 136.3 million visits resulted in seeing a doctor or nurse in fewer than 15 minutes. Which means there are a lot of people stacking up in the ER.
The National Center for Health did a study examining a subset of patients that visited an emergency room but weren’t admitted to the hospital. It discovered that 48 percent visited the emergency room because their doctor’s office was not open.
THE FACTORS TO CONSIDER
There are factors in play in those critical moments after an incident that may sway your decision on where to go. Some of them are too important to ignore, such as cost – it can be two to three times more expensive to be treated in an emergency room than at a doctor’s office. That’s why you don’t head to the ER every time you have a headache.
But it’s also important to determine how quickly you need care. If it’s Friday night, most doctors and some urgent care providers are closed.
Blood gushing everywhere usually means you need an emergency team. Also to be considered: people who are choking, not breathing, passed out, or in such a severe accident that they may need to be immobilized. That’s the time you need to let a professional make the call.
If it’s a matter of not feeling well, including sprains, colds, earaches, minor eye injuries or minor broken bones, then an urgent care facility can treat you. For total non-emergencies, make a doctor’s appointment.
PLAN AHEAD
You should have a good idea of your options before you need them. Nothing instills panic more than having to look up information on unfamiliar places when a child is crying or there appears to be an emergency. It’s a good idea to have a list made up that includes your doctor’s name and phone number, the closest hospital ER, your health insurance plan information, your urgent care clinic, and perhaps a medical helpline phone number. Keep this information in your smart phone and also have it readily accessible in your house.
It’s important to get a professional opinion in some situations. If you’re not sure what to do, then getting on the phone can often help you make the right choice. Your health insurance company may also have preferred locations or, in some cases, a nurse advisory line that can assist. Use a phone call to tell them the situation, including your symptoms or situation, so that they can determine the best course of action.
HOW THE EMERGENCY ROOM GOT ITS NAME
You know how the hospital’s emergency room got its name? Because it was meant for people who had life-threatening conditions and needed immediate care. When life happens at odd times, most people know that emergency rooms are open 24 hours per day, seven days per week, including all major holidays.
Because the law mandates that they have to treat you in an emergency room, the high cost of maintaining health insurance in the last two decades caused many uninsured people to go to the ER for treatments that easily could have been handled by a doctor or urgent care facility. That’s why many of the emergency rooms closed, as their hospitals were financially overwhelmed by providing non-emergency treatments.
Your local ER is trained to treat true emergencies – accident trauma, gunshots, people who have stopped breathing, bleeding, amputations, constant vomiting, severe chest pains, unconscious and not responsive patients, and severely broken bones. At the ER, they have X-rays, trained surgeons on call, operating rooms and other equipment that is designed to save someone’s life in the worst of circumstances.
People who need a Band-Aid or an aspirin just get in the way and clog up the system. That’s why most emergency rooms will have patients wait for hours and hours for minor treatment. There’s usually a long line ahead of them with more serious issues.
URGENT CARE
Your local urgent care facility probably has less equipment than the ER, but can take care of most non-emergency situations that won’t develop into something life-threatening. Need an X-ray? Have a head cold? Most urgent care facilities are open late and on weekends, and some are 24/7 facilities akin to the major hospitals. Urgent Cares are a bit of an intermediate step between the family doctor and the emergency room, designed to enable a wider selection of treatments at times when the doctor’s office is closed, and the ER is not an option.
Most urgent care facilities can treat colds, flu, and their associated symptoms, including vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramps; broken bones; minor sports injuries; minor burns, cuts and scrapes; and bruises or light damage to extremities. The idea of urgent care is to provide some intermediate assistance that will probe your problem and recommend further treatment if warranted. The waiting time is much less than a hospital emergency room and should be far less costly.
THE FAMILY DOCTOR
It’s good to develop a relationship with the family doctor. That way, a medical record is available and helps the practitioner determine whether your situation is a recurring incident and helps her or him make recommendations on long-term wellness. They are usually the first people to examine a patient with an unspecified complaint, and many insurance companies want you to see them first before going to a specialist. Moreover, your doctor can educate you on health issues and help you manage chronic conditions like asthma, hypertension or diabetes.
Of course, distance to a facility, your judgment of the severity of the situation, and prior experience with either the emergency care or the medical situation will play a role in which aid you choose. Just be prepared, don’t panic, and choose based on perceived need, not convenience. You have options in medical treatment. But it’s important to know when to head to the hospital emergency room versus urgent care or the family doctor.
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