Over 80% of Emergency Room visits can be treated at an urgent care facility.
WHEN TO GO TO URGENT CARE
Urgent Care centers handle non-life-threatening situations and non-emergency situations that occur during evenings, weekends, and holidays.
- Symptom onset is gradual
- You already know the diagnosis but are unable to get a same-day appointment with your primary care physician
- Sprains
- Sore throat
- Animal bites
- Mild asthma
- Foreign object in eye or nose
- Minor fractures
- Cold or flu symptoms
- Urinary tract infections
- Mild asthma
- Rash without fever
- Broken bones of the wrist, hand, ankle or foot that have no obvious need to reset and have not broken the skin
- Rashes or minor burns
- Ear or sinus pain
- X-rays
- Cough or sore throat
- Nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea
WHEN TO GO TO AN EMERGENCY ROOM
ERs are meant for true medical emergencies and are necessary when a patient is suffering from life or limb-threatening illnesses and injuries.
- Broken bones and dislocated joints
- Deep cuts that require stitches — especially on the face
- Head or eye injuries
- Severe flu or cold symptoms
- Sudden change in mental state
- High fevers
- Fevers with rash
- Fevers in infants
- Severe pain, particularly in the abdomen or starting halfway down the back
- Bleeding that won’t stop or a large open wound
- Vaginal bleeding with pregnancy
- Repeated vomiting
- Serious burns
- Seizures without a previous diagnosis of epilepsy
