Emergency Vs. Urgent Care

One of the toughest calls you can make is judging whether your illness or injury warrants a trip to the emergency room or not. According to the CDC, Americans made 110.2 million visits to emergency rooms in 2002. Of those visits, 34% required treatment within 15 minutes and 10% were classified as non-urgent.

How do you know?

Generally, an emergency is a condition that you believe threatens your life or body part in such a manner that immediate medical care is needed to prevent death or impairment. Urgent care is required to protect your health from unforeseen illness or injury, such as broken bones or non-life threatening cuts that require stitches.

If your condition is life threatening, call 9-1-1 immediately. Otherwise, you can usually call your medical plan’s nurse advice line and speak to a nurse about whether you need to go to an emergency room, urgent care center, your primary care physician or treat yourself at home. If you are injured or sick on the weekend, the nurse can help you decide whether to wait to see your doctor on Monday or go to your nearest urgent care center.

Good judgment and a clear head are important in urgent situations – and so is getting the help you need. You can develop good judgment by taking first-aid or CPR classes, which can teach you what signs are truly serious. But when in doubt, get help immediately.

If you are interested in taking a CPR class, contact the District’s
Professional Development Office at 253.571.1061. Professional
Development offers monthly CPR courses.

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