So you are here trying to figure out
the difference between a life-threatening emergency that needs the ER and
something that is too serious for a normal doctor but not quite ER worthy. That
can be difficult. This article is here to help you know what kind of injury
should be treated at the Emergency Room and what kind of injury should be taken
to Urgent medical care.
Urgent Care is for things that are
too serious to wait on a doctor's appointment but not series enough for the
Emergency Room, they're walk-in clinics so no appointments you have to make as
long as you're okay with waiting up to an hour to see a Doctor. Depending on
how many people are in there and how serious your case, it might be longer.
Most reasons people would go to
Urgent Care if they had severe nausea, an allergic reaction, if you have had a
sore throat for a few days, pain in your back, an ear infection that doesn't
seem to be clearing up, a fever that you can't shake, a strange bite from a bug
or insect, migraines, and other things like that.
If you have any kind of condition
that won't kill you if it's not treated immediately, something that you just
need to be taken care of like a sprained ankle, you can go to Urgent Care and
they will take care of it and you will be on your way.
A normal doctor's office will examine
you, give you a few options as to what could be wrong and send you to a
specialist, or they will diagnose the problem and give you a prescription for some
medicine from CVS or Walmart.
An Emergency Room are strictly for
people in dire conditions, if you have had a heart attack or stroke, if there
was a car crash or any sort of bad accident, they will be the ones to take care
of you to make sure that you will be back up and running in a few weeks or
months.
An Urgent Care Center will take
everything in between. If you have sinus problems, if you need an x-ray because
you broke your hand but don't quite need the ER because it's not super serious
most Urgent Care centers have X-ray machines readily available so they can
diagnose what the problem is and help you fix it without having to go to a
third party place.
The price is another thing that
splits the difference between an ER and Urgent Care. An ER bill is going to be
relatively higher than a bill from Urgent Care. So, unless you have a serious
life or death situation that you are in, Urgent Care is always the best to go
to between the two of these.
So if you have any kind of problem,
both physical and internal, that has been causing you some troubles lately and
you would rather get it checked out sooner than later and waiting on a Doctor's
appointment, or if it's the weekend and you can't wait until Monday, then find
out where your local or closest Urgent Care center is because they can help
make you feel much better so much sooner. And going to an Urgent Care Center,
even if you have to wait a few hours because it's a busy weekend, is much
better than sitting at home until Monday because you can't make an appointment
with your regular doctor on the weekends.
