At times, it can be difficult to know if you need to go to an urgent care clinic or an emergency room, especially if you've never had to go to either before. It's important to go to the correct facility because urgent care clinics may not have to correct medical staff to help in an emergency.
What Is Urgent Care?
Urgent care clinics were started to take some of the pressure off the emergency rooms and help patients get treatment faster. Urgent care is available to everyone for non-life-threatening injuries and illnesses. You'd want to go to an urgent care clinic if you need medical attention before tomorrow, but not so urgently that your life is in danger. If you show up to an urgent care clinic with a life-threatening injury or illness, they may not have the correct medical staff or tools to treat you in a timely manner.
Examples of When to Go to Urgent Care
To avoid going to urgent care for the wrong condition, check the following examples to see if urgent care is right for you:
- Fever
- Flu
- Mild asthma
- X-rays or lab tests
- Sprains
- Rashes
- Infections
- Dehydration
- Sore throat/strep throat
- Minor broken bones
- UTI
There are many more things you can receive treatment for at an urgent care clinic, but if the illness or injury is not worse than the ones listed, it's a safe bet to head to urgent care.
What Is Considered an Emergency?
An emergency means you or someone else's life is in danger. Urgent care centers are not equipped to treat life-threatening conditions so, in the event of an emergency, you will need to go to an emergency room.
Find an emergency room immediately for the following conditions:
- Gunshot or knife wounds
- Seizures
- Poisoning
- Burns
- Heart attack or symptoms
- Stroke or symptoms
- Head, neck, and back injuries
- Fracture or broken bone where the bone sticks out of the skin
- Pregnancy issues
- Newborn fever
Cost of Urgent Care vs Emergency Care
Even with urgent care clinics, there are still many people who go to the emergency room instead because they don't know the difference. The decision to go to the emergency room can be a costly one. The same treatments in an emergency room can cost nearly twice as much, if not more, than they would at an urgent care clinic.
The average cost of an emergency room visit is around $1,389 while the average cost of an urgent care visit is between $100 to $150. This will vary depending on the services needed. It's important to make sure you're not going to the emergency room when it's not necessary. Not only does it save you money, but it gives the medical professionals more time to focus on real emergencies.
Keep these tips in mind when looking for an urgent care clinic near you.
Is your knee stiff and painful every morning when you get out of bed? Perhaps, you sometimes feel a grinding sensation in your knee. If you can relate to this frustrating situation, you might be suffering from osteoarthritis. Thankfully, several treatments are available for this joint condition. Sometimes, physicians recommend patients battling osteoarthritis of the knee take a prescription painkiller. Doctors also often encourage patients to lose weight and start a low-impact exercise program. Swimming and walking are both great forms of low-impact exercise. On this blog, I hope you will discover how to effectively and quickly relieve the painful symptoms of osteoarthritis of the knee. Enjoy!