Family Urgent Care Center or Emergency Room?

When you have a non-life threatening medical problem where do you go? Since the 1970’s we have the options of a family urgent care center, a hospital emergency room or a doctor’s office or clinic. Each of these options has their benefits.

You have had an earache for a few days and the pain is excruciating, so you call your doctor and the first appointment they have open is ten days out. Because of the severity of the pain it would be very unwise to wait for treatment. You can call an urgent care center. They are usually open seven days a week. Their hours go into the evening and they include weekends. Urgent care centers also welcome walk-in for patients of all ages.

Emergency medicine physicians started most of the urgent care centers. The physicians were responding to the public need for easy and convenient access to unscheduled medical care. Nurse practitioners and/or physician assistants are usually the medical staff that you will encounter at these centers. An urgent care center must have on-site diagnostic services that include digital x ray and a clinical lab.

If the earache has become a very serious life-threatening problem and you have the following symptoms, then a hospital emergency room is where you need to go. The symptoms that would send you to the emergency room include chest pain, sudden and severe headache, seizures and a high fever. Severe abdominal pain, coughing or vomiting blood and severe burns would also warrant an emergency room visit. Other symptoms might be sudden dizziness, weakness or loss of coordination or balance as well as numbness anywhere in your body. If you feel any symptom is life threatening you should go to the emergency room.

Your doctor is who you should start with if your symptoms are not life threatening. Illnesses like sore throats, fever, rashes, colds and flu can be treated at a doctor’s office. Back pain, minor cuts and burns; sprains and minor eye injuries also can be taken care of at a doctor’s office or clinic. Regular physicals, refills for prescriptions and vaccinations are available at the office as well. Their hours are generally regular business hours but may have extended hours or weekend appointments available.

When your ear starts to hurt or has developed into a serious problem you have choices. Whether you choose the doctor’s office or clinic, the family urgent care center or the hospital emergency room you can get the help and treatments you need to get back your health.