In your opinion, what situations might require an emergency room visit?

[Bidin~Time]

I'm just curious. Recently, I had a little incident that had people asking if I should go to the emergency room for treatment. I didn't go as I didn't consider it worthy of emergent care. But it got me to wondering what people consider an emergency.

Would you care to offer an opinion?

 

[Hard_Rom]

Broken bones
Gaping wounds
Heart attack
Stroke
Fainting/dizziness
Overdose
Gunshot
Knifed
Sucking chest wound
Embedded object
Head injuries
Dangerous fever in children
Hypothermia
Heat stroke or exhaustion

 

[silver gurl]

Seeing our average ER wait is currently 25 hours, it would have to be a true emergency.
An injury that needed stiches, a broken bone, chest pains or signs of stroke.

 

[RobDownSouth]

• Severe accidents (your definition of "severe" might vary)
• Any and all possible cardiac related episodes.
• Asthmatics not responding to home treatment
• Medication overdose
• Anaphalaxis (usually true allergies)
• Intense skeletal or gastrointestinal pain (think: gallbladder/appendix) that will not go away
• Some but not all bone breaks (I've broken my nose and my jaw and not gone to the E.R.)
• Fever 103 and over

 

[Bidin~Time]

Seeing our average ER wait is currently 25 hours, it would have to be a true emergency.
An injury that needed stiches, a broken bone, chest pains or signs of stroke.

good grief! do you not have urgent care centers?

 

[butters]

I'm just curious. Recently, I had a little incident that had people asking if I should go to the emergency room for treatment. I didn't go as I didn't consider it worthy of emergent care. But it got me to wondering what people consider an emergency.

Would you care to offer an opinion?

bleed i couldn't stop
broken/amputated limb
concussion (if i couldn't see the doc about it)
grand mal if never experienced before (or fits in an infant)
severe burns/ingestion of toxic or corrosive substances...
continued high temperature or signs of meningitis/pneumonia
restricted breathing due to injury/infection/severe asthma attack that wasn't controllable
signs of a stroke
suspected heart attack
car accident/fall resulting in possible compression/spinal/limb/brain injuries
smoke inhalation due to a fire
diabetic coma
unconsiousness
hypothermia
electrocution
eye trauma if it couldn't be treated by gp

anything for myself i wasn't able to deal with or see a gp about first, but more wary with children. certainly wouldn;t take anyone for a sprain, a regular kind of cut, minor burns, bites, stings....

 

[Greypowerful]

For me, it would be limited to something traumatic... a deep cut, requiring multiple stitches; a fall more that 5 feet (off a ladder, e.g.); a broken bone (arm or leg); or a head injury where a concussion is likely.

Medically, the only thing I'd go to Emerg over would be sudden sickness, from possible food poisoning.

 

[silver gurl]

good grief! do you not have urgent care centers?

We have walk in clinic. Only a few are open during the weekend or evenings. You wait there, as well. Free health care......

 

[Greypowerful]

Seeing our average ER wait is currently 25 hours, it would have to be a true emergency.
An injury that needed stiches, a broken bone, chest pains or signs of stroke.

Tabernouche! TWENTY-FIVE hours?

 

[silver gurl]

Tabernouche! TWENTY-FIVE hours?

Yup. Quebec health care needs some work.

 

[Greypowerful]

good grief! do you not have urgent care centers?

Not like yours... for profit isn't legal, remember?

 

[Greypowerful]

good grief! do you not have urgent care centers?

Yup. Quebec health care needs some work.

Ontario is only better in the smaller hospitals- too many stoopid welfare types using Emergency as a doctor's office...

The quality of care is great, but waiting one's "turn" can be trying...

REAL emergencies are addressed promptly - arrive via EMS, and one's at the front of the line.

 

[Bidin~Time]

We have walk in clinic. Only a few are open during the weekend or evenings. You wait there, as well. Free health care......

The local hospital here is small, and in a rural setting so the wait time isn't hours and hours. There is a small urgent care facility here that I have gone to for treatment a couple of times, and have been treated and out in under 2 hours.

If I walked into an emergency room or urgent care and saw wall to wall people, I might take my chances with meeting Jesus. However, if I were with a sick or injured family member, I'd wait.

 

[Conager]

No history of heart disease at all in my family so I probably wouldn't even go in for chest pains. It would have to be bleeding that I couldn't stop or something that needs to be physically reattached. A compound fracture I would want somebody looking at right away. I can't really think of a situation where I would be get behind the curve on hydration enough to be needing an IV regardless of the illness I would have sought medical care before then but not an emergency room

 

[about_average]

Pretty much what others have said, though for some I would, and have, gone to an urgent care center rather than the ER.
Unfortunately the urgent care centers aren't open 24/7 so after hours it would be ER or nothing.

If it were something like a "gaping" wound, I'd wait until the next day when they were open, provided I could stop the bleeding, or at least control it to the point where I wasn't going to bleed out.

 

[jomar]

Pretty much anything that starts with, "Hold my beer..."

 

[Bidin~Time]

Pretty much anything that starts with, "Hold my beer..."

LOL, I have seen those!

 

[butters]

Pretty much anything that starts with, "Hold my beer..."

oh hell

and i guess i was thinking about other adults as well as myself when i answered, because i could hardly get myself to an ER if i were unconscious - and some of those i've listed would be ambulance jobbies rather than under my own steam.

 

[Ms_Ann]

Kidney stone unless you love pain.

 

[Aquagal]

Had a test once where dye was injected in my arm, can't remember why...had to go in the tube thing. MRI? Was allergic to the dye and arm swelled up super big... went to ER, waited 3 hours and was stuck in a room. When I realized I guess this isn't killing me I told them I was leaving. Walked out.

Have riden as a passenger those life flights twice. One a plane, one a helo, those are no fun. True emergencies.

Edit: Wait! I was the hand holding passenger.

 

[Colonel Hogan]

Most here are citing the obvious instances of trauma that clearly calls for an ER visit. But it isn't always that obvious, and the tough calls are when it isn't.

I was admitted to the hospital through the ER TWICE in 2016, and in both cases, no one was more surprised than me.

The first was a urinary tract infection following a severe bout of back spasms. After finally recovering from the spasms, I wasn't in pain. Just weak and lethargic and not pissing very well. But a suspicious home healthcare worker made the decision (NOT me) to call 911. Once in the ER, they catheterized me and ran a test of the crud. I had a creatinine level of 12. Few people on kidney dialysis have creatinine levels of 12. My kidneys had completely shut down. I was in for five days and ended up wearing a Foley catheter for two months. Had it not been for the suspicions of the healthcare worker I might well have died.

Incident two: Last August I had a painful case of nasal vestibulitis. An easy diagnosis off the internet. Went to a urgent care clinic for an antibiotic. Three days later, it not only hadn't worked, but my upper lip had swollen. I thought I was having an allergic reaction to the meds. Went back to the same doctor at the clinic. He considered doing an injection but ultimately referred me to the ER "just in case" it was more serious.

Turned out to be a MRSA infection and I was in the hospital for two days and had to have the site lanced. OUCCCCHHHHH!!!

I also know of a story of a guy who had a congenital heart condition and went in to see his doctor about a "minor complaint." Based upon his medical history and a sudden change in color of his fingernails the doctor immediately admitted him to the hospital. Turns out the guy had a bacterial infection in his heart. He would have surely died within days had it not been caught.

Bottom line: If it's the weekend, and my body is doing something particularly strange accompanied by severe weakness, pain, loss of vision, coordination, etc., I'm going to the ER. If they tell me it's nothing and that turns out to be true, then it was money nonetheless well spent.

If they tell me "it's a good thing you got here when you did," how big a bargain do you think that is?

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Colonel Hogan presenting you with the total for his billable hours...

 

[Colonel Hogan]

Colonel Hogan presenting you with the total for his billable hours...

Hey, you can pay me now....


Or we'll just deduct it from your estate during probate.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Hey, you can pay me now....


Or we'll just deduct it from your estate during probate.

lol...

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]