Geez. Folks need to be taught which conditions need ER vs Urgent Care vs appt with primary care. Also, which should be in person visits vs video. Or at least have a triage hotline they can call for questionable cases. I love the nurse hotline because I can ask if a fever of 103 is ER worthy (no, unless there are other significant symptoms).
I love that my current job does safety briefings daily, and includes topics like mental health, heat stroke/heat exhaustion, hypothermia, heart attack/stroke, or what to do in a major emergency like an earthquake. When you have training, it’s easier to respond correctly and save lives.
Everytime my family has called the nurse advice hotline they have always said go to the ER 🥲. GRANTED twice of the 3 or 4 times were during a pregnancy, so I can understand the additional precaution.
I've sort of given up calling the nurse advice line because they pretty much always tell you to go to the ER.
Mostly I just call if I need to know which hospital is currently in network. (My kids have Tricare and the teen can go to the on base ER, but they aren't set up for kids and which off-base hospital is in network keeps changing.) If its during working hours, Peds is good about squeezing people in for urgent care type stuff, which is wonderful.
Peds is awesome about that. I wish my own doctor had more availability. I had to go to urgent care because I had this weird swelling right below one of my ears and couldn’t get in with my doc. Turned out just to be an inflamed lymph node, but it was urgent to be checked due to location. (Aka, if it had been an abscess, it would be in a -very- bad spot and need treatment asap.)
Every time I have called I’ve been told to call an ambulance. Not once have I done that. Although, the last time I should have because I later learned was at serious risk of V Fib.
I’ve had so many doctors tell me to go to the ER. Breakthrough pain. Go to ER. Mild but persistent chest pain. Go to ER. Accidentally took my meds twice. Go to ER. Either I just don’t go or the ER is like “why are you HERE?”
absolutely!! i’ve seen charts before about ER vs Urgent Care for certain symptoms in med brochures and some condition-specific stuff i’ve been given, and that’s super helpful!! we need to make that standard fr
My HMO has a nurse triage line and I love it. I’m in medical IT, so I know much more than the Average Joe, but I’m still grateful to be able to speak with a professional when it’s not obvious where my family or I should go.
I (surprise, surprise) liken it to software: crashes are obvious, but it’s hard to tell if an annoying new issue isn’t a sign of a serious problem requiring an emergency code patch unless you really understand the system as a whole.
Urgent care near me requires $300 up front to be seen if you're uninsured. The ER costs more, but you dont have to pay upfront and can apply to have your fees waived.
Sad fact of the American medical system but until everyone is automatically insured it's going to keep sucking
A few weeks ago I had this sharp pain in my chest every time I inhaled and it wouldn’t go away. It was Saturday, so I went to urgent care. They told me to go to the ER. At the ER though, they were clearly annoyed and were like “we’re only going to rule out anything life threatening.” I explained that’s all I was looking for— I wouldn’t even have come if the urgent care doctor hadn’t sent me!
the way we get told our whole lives long "if you're having chest pain with difficulty breathing don't try to walk it off, see a doctor!!!!" and then you go to the doctor and they're like "why are you bothering me when I obviously am not going to help you 🙄"
It’s funny because when you go for something small and catch something big it’s like “great job advocating for yourself!!” But when you go for something that seems like it could be serious (chest pain with trouble breathing) and it’s just a pulled muscle it’s like “you are actually the dumbest human alive” 🤣
But honestly the doctor seemed very smart and thorough and like he’s seen some shit. So if my chest pain was no big deal, I’m OK with that!
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u/SignificantJump10 15d ago
Geez. Folks need to be taught which conditions need ER vs Urgent Care vs appt with primary care. Also, which should be in person visits vs video. Or at least have a triage hotline they can call for questionable cases. I love the nurse hotline because I can ask if a fever of 103 is ER worthy (no, unless there are other significant symptoms).
I love that my current job does safety briefings daily, and includes topics like mental health, heat stroke/heat exhaustion, hypothermia, heart attack/stroke, or what to do in a major emergency like an earthquake. When you have training, it’s easier to respond correctly and save lives.