Questions To Ask Yourself When Deciding Between Emergency Room And Urgent Care

5 June 2017
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If you are experiencing some sort of pain or illness, there is a good chance that you are considering going to seek professional help. This is a smart move because it can help you get the care that you need. However, you also know that seeking professional help for your illness or injury can be very expensive. You want to make sure that you are well but you also want to go with an option that is in your budget.

Urgent care centers tend to be a lot more cost-effective than emergency rooms up to a certain point. Beyond that point, only an emergency room can care for your needs and ensure that you get the help that you need. Here are some questions that you can ask yourself when deciding between an emergency room visit and an urgent care visit.

1. Are you concerned about losing consciousness?

The first thing that you should think about is if you are going to be able to get yourself to an urgent care and then explain your situation. The main reason why you would not be able to do so was if you lost consciousness. This is important to consider because you would not be safe to drive and will not be able to communicate effectively. If you are worried about losing consciousness, get a friend to take you to the emergency room as soon as possible or call for an ambulance. If you are not concerned about losing consciousness, then go with the urgent care.

2. Are you having a hard time breathing?

If you have already been diagnosed with asthma and you know how to manage it, a trip to the urgent care could help you figure out what's going on to cause your asthma to get worse out of nowhere. If you are having a hard time breathing and don't know why, then you should absolutely go to the emergency room to get that checked out.

3. Do you have a fever?

If you have a fever, you can go to the urgent care clinic. They will be able to help you get the fever down and manage your other symptoms. If need be, they will refer you to an emergency room and help you get there as quickly and as safely as possible.

For more information, talk to a local urgent care such as Alaska Urgent Care LLC.