There are times when going to the ER is not the best option. Depending on your symptoms, you should go to the appropriate place. Suppose you encounter any of these life-threatening symptoms. In that case, you should call 911 immediately, because of difficulty breathing, heavy bleeding, chest pain, disorientation, weakness on one side of the face or body, and unconsciousness. Many insurance companies offer an urgent care Downtown LA service through which you can call and share your symptoms with them, and they will let you know which service to use. It’s always about your symptoms, their severity, and whatever is available to you at the time of the day or sometimes due to distance when searching for urgent care near me.
Instead of going to an ER, you will be seen much more quickly and at a much lower cost. A hospital’s emergency room cannot refuse anyone’s treatment, so it is usually very busy. Trialing you will determine whether your condition is severe or not. Your care will likely be delayed if the person suffering from a life-threatening illness or injury has been given treatment and stabilization. A staff member will provide your care when you are first in line at an urgent care facility. It is generally less busy at urgent care centers than in emergency rooms.
What is the best time to go to the urgent care clinic in Los Angeles rather than the hospital?
Most of the reasons why people seek medical care are not requiring the depth of services a hospital provides. A healthcare facility that provides 24-hour urgent care Los Angeles has a significantly lower overhead because of the staffing level, the number of hours it must be open, and other licensing requirements. Operating at considerable cost savings is still possible even if the business is open 24/7.
Emergency rooms were overused for non-emergency care, which led to the creation of urgent care centers. It takes one or two weeks for those who have doctors to get an appointment when they are sick. When most patients have to be at work, individual doctors’ offices have limited opening hours.
An urgent care center is typically open 365 days a year, often 24 hours a day. Wherever you go there, there is always a doctor there. A lab test and an x-ray can usually be performed on-site. In general, hospitals provide a wide range of services, including outpatient complaints and life-threatening emergencies.
The chances of walking into a doctor’s office and having your issue resolved completely within minutes are uncommon. In an emergency department, patients are screened for admission or discharged with an initial treatment plan and a follow-up visit with a healthcare provider affiliated with or in your family.
Urgent Care Centers were designed to fill the gray area between non-acute care in a physician’s office and acute care in a hospital emergency room (severe to life-threatening injuries or illnesses). Even if you are not suffering from life-threatening conditions, urgent care centers can still be helpful if you don’t want to wait a long time for an appointment.
- Walk-ins are welcome / appointments are not required
- Provide a wide range of hours (some are open 24/7)
- A wide variety of “can’t wait” we can handle issues
- It is usually cheaper to see a doctor than to go to the ER
- If they can handle the condition (for conditions they can handle*), they are usually faster than ER visits
Conditions treated in an urgent care
While urgent care is similar to emergency rooms, it is not intended for conditions that pose an immediate threat to life or limb. Finding a “Fast-track” or similarly named area within some emergency departments that offers urgent care services is possible. Nurses, physician assistants and family practice physicians are usually staff these urgent care and fast-track US units.
In the event of a medical emergency, do NOT go to the emergency room if you want faster care and don’t want to wait with the only exception of that emergency being a life threatening one. Below are some examples of life-threatening emergencies (that cannot be treated anywhere else):
- Pain in the chest/unstable angina
- Supra ventricular Tachycardia
- Cardiac arrest
- Flu and colds
- pink eye
- You normally would have taken this to your primary care doctor but haven’t been able because they are closed or unavailable
- Shortness of breath
- Respiratory distress
- Overdose of drugs
- Shock (Hemorrhagic, neurogenic, psychogenic, septic, etc.)
- A trauma (blunt force injury, motor vehicle accident, gunshot wound, stab wound, burn)
- Soft tissue injuries of a minor nature
- simple fractures
- Respiratory arrest
- Anaphylaxis
- Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA)
- Stroke
- Seizure
- Altered mental states
- Bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract
- Allergic reaction on a localized basis
Except for hospitals with express care, these hospitals primarily provide services for patients with lower-acuity complaints, such as x-rays for possible non-traumatic injuries, splinting fractured extremities, eye exams for patients with eye pain, or sudden loss of vision, and vaccinations against rabies and tetanus.
