No one wants to have an injury, but those who do have one are not sure if their injury warrants a trip to the emergency room or an urgent care facility. In this video, we will shed light on these two different options. Hopefully, this insight will be helpful the next time you have an injury.
There are a couple of rules of thumb we all need to follow. Those with non-life-threatening issues should go to urgent care. These would include sore and strained muscles, moderate pain, sore throats, coughing, bee stings for those without allergies, urinary tract infections, a cut that isn’t healing, and getting refills of prescriptions.
More serious illnesses or accidents should be seen by emergency physicians. In these cases, 911 should be called, or the injured person should be taken directly to the emergency room. These issues may include chest pains, trouble breathing, stroke and numbness, major trauma, blows to the head, broken bones, extremely high blood pressure, or fever. Also, those suffering from emotional issues and are threatening suicide should be seen by emergency room personnel.
VETS that have served our country have some additional options as most larger cities have VA administrations and medical facilities. More information is available to vets at www.VA.gov/find-locations. They can often conduct virtual health chats via the Sunshine network.
Many people go to the emergency room for a common cold and other minor illnesses that should be treated by urgent care facilities or their family physicians. It is important to realize that going to the emergency room for non-emergency treatment is preventing those with critical health issues from getting timely treatment.
