Urgent Care vs. the Emergency Room: How to Decide Between the Two

Sometimes, an emergency is clearly defined, such as when you severely cut your finger while making dinner. Other times, it isn't so easy to define whether your situation is a true emergency or something that urgent care can handle. Is a tight chest a symptom of bronchitis or something more serious? How high does a fever need to be before it reaches emergency status? Knowing which symptoms are most serious can help you determine whether you should visit an emergency room or urgent care in Suffolk County, NY.

When to Go to Urgent Care

Typically, you can go to urgent care if you have symptoms that you'd normally take to your regular doctor, but can't due to appointment availability. Urgent care centers treat symptoms such as diarrhea and vomiting, low- to mid-grade fevers, sprained ankles and severe sore throats. Like your primary care provider's office, an urgent care center will require you to pay a co-pay upfront if you have insurance, or to pay a fee at the time of treatment and the rest of the bill upon receipt if you don't have insurance. Some centers operate on sliding fee scales if you can prove that income is an issue.

When to Seek Help From an Emergency Room

If you have symptoms that are causing severe pain, constricting your breathing or causing you to faint, go to the emergency room. Persistent or worsening chest pain, especially if it spreads to your arm or jaw, could be sign of a heart attack, and untreated head injuries could lead to loss in consciousness resulting in blindness, comas, brain injuries and even death. Never delay treatment for these symptoms.

Other issues that require emergency room care are broken bones, sudden pain or swelling in the abdomen or genital area, deep cuts, large open wounds and weakness or paralysis. If you are taking care of a newborn or small child, an elderly person or someone with a weakened immune system, seek emergency care for fevers, rashes and severe symptoms related to colds or the flu.

An emergency room will ask for co-pay at registration if you have insurance, but in most hospitals, they will still treat you even if you can't pay the co-pay fee or don't have insurance.

What to Do if Urgent Care is Closed

While urgent care centers do have longer hours than traditional doctor's offices, they are not open around the clock. If you or someone in your care begins to feel ill after hours, pay close attention to the symptoms. If they do not worsen, go to urgent care as soon as they open. If a fever, vomiting, diarrhea or severe pain become present or get worse before urgent care opens, go to the emergency room.

Above anything, follow your gut when it comes to deciding between a visit to the emergency room and one to urgent care. It's better to go to the hospital and find out you could have gone to urgent care than to risk your life by delaying necessary emergency care because you think you don't need it.

James Anderson has only one mission: to help inform people. When he first started writing, he was fascinated with his ability to help people understand things.