Appointment Request | Patient Portal
URGENT CARE
×
  • Home
  • About
    • Our Practice
    • Providers
  • Location
  • Services
    • Urgent Care Services
    • Appointment Request
  • Resources
    • Patient Guide
    • Patient Forms
    • Prescription Info
    • Insurance Info
    • Billing/Payments
    • FAQ’s
    • Patient Portal >
    • Visit Primary Care >
  • Health News
  • Contact

Should You Choose Urgent Care Or The Emergency Room?

March 25, 2016Urgent Care Port St. Lucie

If you get sick or injured outside of your doctor’s normal business hours, it can be difficult to decide whether you should go to urgent care or the emergency room. Urgent Care Port St. Lucie FL center provide an alternative to the emergency room for relatively minor health conditions such as sprained ankles, colds, or minor infections. More and more of these centers have been popping up in cities around the country, providing an economical alternative to the emergency room for illnesses or injuries that are not extremely severe.

ER or Urgent CareThe hard part is determining how severe an injury or illness needs to be before the emergency room is justified. The following section provides some helpful information on how to decide between urgent care or the emergency room.

In general, the emergency room should be reserved for any illnesses or injuries that affect your major organs or that involve severe bleeding. Most urgent care centers are not equipped to handle these potentially life-threatening emergencies. For instance, if you are experiencing symptoms of a heart attack or stroke, you should go straight to the emergency room. The same holds true for difficulty breathing, extreme pain, a sudden loss of vision, a loss of consciousness, or broken bones that protrude through the skin. Severe bleeding that doesn’t lessen when pressure is applied is also a true emergency and should be treated at the emergency room.

Urgent care centers, on the other hand, can handle just about everything else. This includes minor burns, cuts and scrapes, cold or flu symptoms, fevers, animal bites, earaches, symptoms of bladder infections, mild asthma attacks, and mild allergic reactions. In general, if an injury or illness is not threatening one of your major organs or is unlikely to result in death, an urgent care center should be able to handle it.

The best way to find out is to call ahead to your local urgent care center before you leave your house. You can ask about your injury or illness to see if it is something they can treat. They will be more than happy to tell you over the phone whether they can handle it in-house, or whether you should head straight to the emergency room. Although it takes a few minutes to place a phone call, it can make a big difference in ensuring that you get the treatment that you need. Rather than wasting time going to urgent care and them being referred to the emergency room, they can tell you right over the phone which option is right for you. This can save precious time, helping you get treated more quickly.

Join Our Newsletter

The latest news about our practice, health trends and technologies that are changing healthcare.

Categories

  • Aging
  • Community Charity
  • Diet
  • Food
  • Local
  • Medical Articles
  • Mens Health
  • News
  • Urgent Care Port St. Lucie
  • Wellness
  • Youth Health

Tags

aging Anti-Aging Antioxidants Asthma Atherosclerosis! Autism Awareness BioPhotonic Scanner Botox Cancer Prevention Carotenoids Charity Chickenpox Children's Health Community Community Wellness Diet Florida free radicals Heart Health Helping People Succeed Hydration Immunizations Martin County Men's Health Migraines Peripheral Artery Disease Pneumonia Prostate Cancer Safety Shingles Skincare Skin Carotenoid Score Social Responsibility Sport's Injuries Stuart summer Supplementation Testicular Cancer Testosterone Treasure Coast Urgent Care Vaccine Vitality Wellness Youth

Latest From Facebook

Treasure Coast Urgent Care shared a link.

4 days ago

Treasure Coast Urgent Care

Artificial intelligence rivals radiologists in screening X-rays for certain diseases

med.stanford.edu

In a matter of seconds, a new algorithm read chest X-rays for 14 pathologies, performing as well as radiologists in most cases, a Stanford-led study says.
View on Facebook
·Share

OFFICE LOCATION

1050 SE MONTEREY RD. SUITE 101
STUART, FLORIDA 34994
Open 7 days • Walk-Ins

(772) 419-0560

www.tcurgentcare.com

Get Directions

©2019 Treasure Coast Urgent Care.
Urgent Care Services on the Treasure Coast
Privacy/Terms of Service
Visit our Primary Care site.

Documents | Practice Login