When Should You Go to Urgent Care vs ER?
Insight Urgent Care and Walk-In Clinic offers quality affordable and convenient urgent care services when you need them. Walk in today to experience the care you deserve for your urgent care needs. Contact us today for more information or check in online. Our urgent care is conveniently located at 13421 Westheimer Road, Suite D, Houston, TX 77077.
Table of Contents:
Is urgent care faster than ER?
What is the difference between urgent care and emergency care?
Is it better to go to urgent care or ER?
What are some benefits of going to urgent care instead of an ER?
Urgent care clinics and emergency rooms both provide essential healthcare services and while they function in similar ways, they have different reasons for being. Urgent care clinics exist for patients dealing with urgent but not life-threatening medical concerns, while emergency rooms exist for patients dealing with life-threatening medical emergencies.
Depending on the situation, urgent care clinics are often faster than emergency rooms. While both urgent care clinics and emergency rooms conduct patient evaluations for each patient that arrives at the clinic to determine if they should be seen upon arrival or can wait in line, urgent care clinics do not see patients who are experiencing life-threatening emergencies, as emergency departments are the only medical facility equipped to do so. As such, urgent care clinics can see patients on a first-come, first-served basis more frequently than emergency rooms. Consequently, patients experiencing non-life-threatening medical concerns will likely be seen much quicker at an urgent care clinic than at an emergency room.
While urgent care clinics and emergency care departments are similar in many respects, chiefly in that they accept walk-in appointments and are often open later than primary care clinics, they differ concerning the level of care they can provide. As such, urgent care clinics can provide medical attention for numerous illnesses and injuries that are not life-threatening but they are not sufficiently equipped to handle life-threatening medical emergencies. In contrast, emergency departments exist primarily to be available 24 hours a day and seven days a week for individuals dealing with life-threatening medical emergencies.
Since emergency rooms are the only medical facilities equipped to provide care for life-threatening medical emergencies, they are always the better option for such cases. However, for individuals who are not experiencing a life-threatening medical emergency, an urgent care clinic is almost always the better option! For individuals experiencing a non-life-threatening medical concern, urgent care clinics are quicker, less expensive, and also lessen the burden of patients on emergency room doctors.
With that being said, you should go to an emergency room if you are experiencing any of the following signs or symptoms of a potentially life-threatening medical emergency:
• Alcohol poisoning or drug overdose
• Anaphylaxis, also known as anaphylactic shock, which is a severe allergic reaction
• Compound fractures, or broken bones where the bone pierces through the skin
• Coughing or vomiting blood
• Deep avulsions, cuts, or lacerations with heavy or unstoppable bleeding
• Extreme or unbearable pain
• Fainting, passing out, or losing consciousness
• Grand mal seizures, or seizures that do not improve with prescribed treatment
• High fever that occurs with neck stiffness and a headache
• Severe chest pain or tightness
• Shortness of breathing (dyspnea), struggling to breathe, or wheezing
• Signs of stroke, including difficulty seeing or speaking, droopiness or weakness, on one-side of the body, or sudden confusion
• Third-degree burns
And More.
It can be highly beneficial to visit an urgent care clinic instead of an emergency room if you are dealing with a medical concern that is not a life-threatening emergency! In such situations, an urgent care clinic can save you both time and money. The services at an emergency room are typically much more expensive than those at an urgent care clinic. Moreover, since emergency rooms see patients with life-threatening medical emergencies and therefore must prioritize patients according to the severity of their medical concerns, patients with less severe medical problems often spend much more time in the emergency room waiting room than they would like! As such, it is a good idea to make urgent care clinics your first choice for any medical concern that is not a life-threatening emergency.
For an appointment at Insight Urgent Care or more information about urgent care clinics versus emergency rooms, we welcome you to call us, schedule an online appointment through our website, or visit our clinic located at 13421 Westheimer Road, Suite D, Houston, TX 77077. We serve patients from Houston TX, Bellaire TX, Galena Park TX, Hedwig Village TX, Pasadena TX, Jacinto City TX, Aldine, and surrounding areas!