So, what exactly is the difference between Urgent Care and the Emergency Room?
One of the great loves of my existence is exercise; I have participated in rowing, cross-country, swim, Olympic lifting, and triathlons (even a 70.3 Ironman). Well, let’s say I am trying to break some new personal record in the weight room, and while I am lifting the weights upwards towards my body, I hear a snap. I just broke my finger, so should I be heading to an urgent care facility or to an emergency room? This is a question that often comes across the desk of an insurance broker because it is a very good question to ask, especially when “urgent” and “emergency” are somewhat synonymous.
There is one very important difference between the two facilities; one is for injuries that happen on days you can’t see your doctor or days where the pain or sickness is to terrible to wait, and one is for life threatening situations or possible loss of limbs and body parts. Which one is which? Well, the urgent care facilities are for injuries or sicknesses that you can’t wait to see your doctor for that don’t threaten your life or body parts, and the emergency room is for those life threatening events.
Coming back to my story of my finger breaking, although I am in some terrible pain, I do not feel like my life or arm is in danger, so I will ask or call a friend to drive me to my urgent care. However, if I had sustained a compound fracture in my arm (a fracture that causes the bone to break through my muscle and skin to the point where I could see the bone coming out of my arm) and I may have hit an artery, I will definitely go straight to the emergency room because I am now in a life-threatening situation.
The best way to know if you should go to the emergency room or the urgent care is to use your best judgment; if you even feel like you may be in a life-threatening situation, go to the emergency room. If you think your injury is painful but has no life threatening consequences, like a sprained ankle, go to the urgent care instead. A general saying about the emergency room is, if they are busy, the next individual they are going to take is the one that looks like they are in the most life threatening position, so the hierarchy is set up in such a way that the most critical injuries are treated first. If you walk in with a sprained ankle and have a slight amount of discomfort and you are up next, then someone comes in without an arm, well, you just lost your spot in line. Knowing which facility most needs your needs by design will help insure that you get better treatment and hopefully, a more swift treatment.
Pro Broker Tip: The Emergency room is for life threatening or limb/body part threatening situations, while the urgent care is for sicknesses or injuries that you won’t die from but want assistance in (and you don’t want to wait for your primary care physician or it’s the weekend and can’t get to them).
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