Should You Go to the Emergency Room or Urgent Care?
Few things are as nerve-wracking as being confronted with a medical emergency, especially when finances are tight. Fortunately, urgent care centers and emergency room teams share a long list of issues they can both treat, and heading to an urgent care center for these problems can help you offset your expenses. However, not every medical problem is right for urgent care clinics. Here is a little more information about when you should go to the ER and when urgent care might be a better option.
Choosing Critical Care
When Should You Go to the Emergency Room?
In a nutshell, emergency room visits are for medical problems that could be life-threatening. Because waiting could compromise your life, issues like chest pain, severe bleeding, confusion, trouble with speech, and sudden, severe headaches should be dealt with in the emergency room.
You should also go to the emergency room anytime you have issues that may become worse if you don’t seek immediate medical care. For example, poisonous insect or animal bites should be treated in the emergency room, since spreading toxins could jeopardize your life.
When Should You Go to Urgent Care?
On the other hand, urgent care centers are best for medical issues that need attention, but that aren’t life-threatening. Examples of situations where urgent care centers would be appropriate are fevers, broken bones, non-life threatening lacerations, vomiting, or ear pain.
Urgent care clinics are also great for ongoing illnesses that need attention, such as chest colds or infections. In fact, studies have shown that upwards of 27.1% of ER visits could have been treated in urgent care centers without incident.
Make things easier for yourself the next time you are sick or injured by keeping the number for urgent care in your phone. Bland County Medical Clinic in Bastian, VA, is dedicated to helping patients with everything from nutritional advice and behavioral services to telemedicine and bone density scans. To learn how they can assist you, visit their website or call (276) 688-4331.
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