Emergency Room Vs. Urgent Care Vs. Clinic

Wait! Before you go to the emergency room (and for goodness sakes, before you even try to call 911), ask yourself this question: could I die from my problem? If the answer is no, then that automatically means that you do not need to go to the emergency room and it definitely means that you don't need to call 911.

I've written an article earlier concering abusing the 911 system, that many people call the ambulance for everything they could think of. Recently while on the job, I've listened to quite a few dispatch information that were absolutely ridiculous. Someone called 911 to have an infection on his private area checked out. Just to let you know, people, if you have an infection on your private parts, you will not die from that.

Not only do emergency responders get tired of all the ridiculous calls they have to respond to, but emergency room staff gets tired of seeing people who don't really need to be there. The emergency room gets loaded with people, and many of them are there for problems that could have been handled in a clinic type setting than in an emergency setting. That is to say, many people they see don't have true emergencies.

Why do you think you always wait forever whenever you go to emergency rooms? You go there and wait five or more hours to be seen by someone and you get frustrated. Well, those with true emergencies will be seen first, and whether or not you arrived by ambulance doesn't always make things go faster for you. Once the true emergencies are dealt with, then you would be seen.

So, how could you avoid wasting your time in an emergency room? Go to a clinic or to an urgent care facility.

The emergency room are for people with true emergencies such as life-threatening situations, bad car cashes, severe burns, near amputated parts, severe allergic reactions, or anything that threatens your life, body part, or could have severe long-term affects on you.

If you simply want something checked out, then you need to go to a clinic so the staff there could determine how bad your problem is and where would be the best place to treat it. Most often your problem could be fixed in a clinical setting.

If it's after hours and the clinics are closed but you have a problem that you're concerned about, then you need to go to an urgent care facility. How would you know what this place would look like? Well, it would say "Urgent Care" on the sign in BIG letters.

An urgent care facility is a great alternative to the emergency room for several reasons. One, you would get seen faster because people who go there usually have problems that could be fixed in no time. The cost of going to an urgent care place is cheaper than the emergency room, and if you don't have the greatest insurance, your best bet is to go to an urgent care facility if you know that you're problem isn't serious and that you would have to make a co-payment.

Urgent Care facilities are usually opened late in night, so once you get off work and want a problem checked out, you could head right over there.

So, who are in urgent care facilities? Your usual doctors, nurses, and physician assistants that you would see in the ER. Sometimes, a nurse or a physician assistant might see your problem and handled it themselves if it's not too serious. The more serious problems would be see by a doctor. If your problem is too severe, then they would advise you to go to the emergency room.

Now, an urgent care facility shouldn't be visited if your problem is too minor. You would be better off going to a regular clinic during the day if you could. Urgent care is really for those who are not sure if their problem is an emergency. Regular clinics are for everything else such as check-ups, shots, minor concerns, etc., etc.

The problem is that not many people know what should be seen immediately and what could wait. Unfortunately, plenty of folks think everything is an emergency and would call 911 without second thoughts.

Fortunately for the EMS system I work for, we are allowed to cancel calls if we know that the patient does not need an ambulance. That's not the case for most EMS systems, but allowing EMS workers to cancel calls is one of the greatest things about working there. Not only do the employees enjoy the fact that they don't always have to take a person to the hospital, but it helps the city or county to avoid unnecessary tie-ups of ambulances for silly problems.

Being able to cancel calls also helps out the hospitals in the area for unnecessary overload of people who don't need to be there.

Most likely, your EMS system does not cancel calls and would take you regardless of how lame the problem is. But remember, just because the ambulance took you to the hospital does not mean that you would be seen any quicker. You could be thrown in the waiting room to wait 11 hours for someone to get to you. And the busier the day is, the worst it would be for you if your problem isn't serious enough.

So, when should you visit the ER, when should you visit urgent care, and when should you just wait until you make an appointment at a regular clinic?

Go to the ER if you:

Have severe abdominal pain, especially if you're pregnant; you might have internal bleeding in your stomach area, which is definitely life threatening. How do you know if your stomach pain is really bad? If it feels sharp and you could barely stand or walk, you pretty much need to go to the emergency room. It's okay to dial 911 for that.

You could barely breath. Now, if you could talk and fuss, you are all right. If it feels that you're about to be suffocated and you could barely talk, call 911. You need the emergency room.

If you're bleeding profusely non-stop and you can't seem to stop it, call 911. You need the ER.

If you're in active labor and the baby is coming out, calling 911 may not be necessary. You could actually deliver the baby yourself because your uterus is doing much of the work for you by contracting. When the uterus is contracting, it's trying to pushing the baby out itself, and you help it along by pushing. The baby will come out no matter what unless there is some complication, in which case calling 911 is the absolute best thing to do because both you and your baby's lives are at risk. When delivering, all you have to do is to hold the baby's head. Don't pull! If you already delivered the baby and the placenta, cut the cord about seven inches away from the baby. Keep the placenta, wrap the baby up, and head to the labor and delivery department. If you're actively bleeding after the baby is delivered, call 911.

If you have a near amputated body part or if part of your body is losing circulation, call 911.

Anyone stuffing from a stroke or looks like is stuffing from a stroke, call 911. If you think you're stuffing from a stroke, call 911. If you're not sure if a person is stroking, ask the person to smile. He should be able to smile on both sides of his face. Ask the person to say a complete sentence. That person should say it without slurring (don't ask him to say any silly tongue-twisting phrases like "How much wood could a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood"). Ask the person to rise his arms and close his eyes. He should be able to hold both arms up with his eyes closed. If the person fails any one of these tests, call 911. When there's a blockage in the brain, brain cells could die off leaving a person permanantly brain damaged.

Any classic signs of a heart attack that includes chest pain that travels to the left arm, heaviness on the chest, sweating, fear of impending doom, etc., should be attended to immediately. Call 911.

Gun shot wounds, deep stabbings, major broken bones, major head injury should be seen in the ER.

Those are just some examples of true emergencies that would merit an ER visit, whether by ambulance or if you drive there yourself.

You should see an urgent care for such problems as deep cuts that need stitches, animal bites (maybe), broken fingers or noses, diarrhea, abdominal pain that's not severe enough to affect your walking, allergic reactions that doesn't threaten your breathing, or anything that's a real concern but is not life-threatening or anything that wouldn't cause any permanant damage if not seen immediately.

If you just want something checked out, then either go to an urgent care facility or to a regular clinic. Go to a regular clinic first before you go to an urgent care facility.

If you're just not sure if a problem is serious or not, there are numbers you could call to speak with a nurse, doctor, or physican assistant to explain to them what's going on. Many times you would find that you're problem wouldn't merit any type of medical visit at all. Calling these numbers would save you a trip and leave cash in your pocket. If you don't have any access to these numbers, call the main number for one of the hospitals and ask. Look in the yellow pages or look it up online.

And then, you could educate yourself by researching your problem online and making your own decision of whether or not you need to go to the hospital. That's what I do!