Learn more about when to call your primary care provider—and when it’s time to go to the emergency room or urgent care.
Finding the Right Level of Care
Ask yourself: Where should you go if you’re experiencing a mild earache? What about a cough or cold? Chest pain? Numbness in your face or arm?
Whether it comes out of nowhere or sneaks up on you gradually, a medical problem can jump to the top of your priority list. Knowing where to go is a matter of keeping these three questions in mind:
- Is it life-threatening, sudden or severe? For signs of heart attack, stroke or other severe symptoms, go to the emergency room and seek immediate medical attention.
- Is it not life-threatening, but still important to be seen right away? For uncomfortable illnesses and injuries, such as sprained ankles, second-degree burns or a bad case of poison ivy, you can check in at an urgent care clinic.
- Is it not so urgent? For preventive care or minor illnesses, such as infections, a cold or the flu, seek care at your primary care provider’s office.
What’s the Difference Between Primary Care and Urgent Care?
Your primary care provider is the best place to seek care for general illness and non-urgent conditions during normal business hours. For routine minor injuries and illnesses, call your primary care provider’s office to schedule an appointment.
If you can’t get in to see your primary care provider and aren’t experiencing a life-threatening emergency, an urgent care center can help. Urgent care centers are open seven days a week with extended hours, including evenings and weekends. Urgent care providers can manage non-emergency conditions when your primary care provider isn’t available. Urgent care centers can also help with lab work and X-rays.
Urgent care centers are set up for injuries and conditions that aren’t life-threatening. You’ll usually get helped faster in these situations at an urgent care center than in an emergency room, which means shorter wait times. You can even check-in online to save time.
Seek an urgent care center for conditions including:
- Animal or insect bites
- Cold and flu symptoms
- Cuts requiring stitches (the emergency room may be appropriate for severe cases)
- Ear infections
- Eye infections
- Fever
- Mild allergic reactions
- Rash and poison ivy
- Second-degree burns
- Sprains, strains or broken bones
- Urinary tract infections
For people with certain illnesses and injuries, such as vomiting and diarrhea, eye or ear infections, and coughs and colds, urgent care telemedicine may provide a convenient, safe solution without leaving home.
When to Go to the Emergency Room
When, exactly, does your health care issue need emergency care? The emergency room, also called the emergency department, is best for life-threatening conditions. If you have chest pain, acute onset illness, severe injuries, or an illness that comes on quickly and severely, you may need more care than your primary care provider or an urgent care center can offer.
Go to the emergency room or call 911 if you or a loved one experience:
- Anaphylaxis or other severe allergic reaction
- High fever
- Severe abdominal or chest pain
- Severe, third-degree burns
- Significant difficulty breathing
- Symptoms of a diabetic emergency – may include dangerously high or low blood sugar levels as shown by unconsciousness, drowsiness, confusion, or difficulty staying awake (signs of either high or low blood sugar); tremulousness, jitteriness, or sweating (signs of low blood sugar); blood sugar readings on a glucometer that are below 60 g/dL or “HI”; persistent vomiting with the inability to tolerate any liquids or food; or vomiting when ketones are present
- Symptoms of heart attack – may include uncomfortable pressure, tightness and/or squeezing in the upper body; feeling of indigestion or burning in the chest; cold sweats, nausea or shortness of breath – even without chest pain or pressure (these can be different for women)
- Symptoms of stroke – may include difficulty speaking, numbness, arm weakness, face dropping, blurred vision or balance problems
- Suicide attempt or mental health crisis – If you feel like harming yourself or others, please call the 988 helpline, 911 or go to the emergency room right away
- Sexual assault – If you are sexually assaulted, please visit the ER as soon as possible. In addition to treating any wounds you might have, you will be offered the option for a trained sexual assault forensic team to collect evidence in case you decide to press charges at a later time. Your visit will be confidential. The team will help you create a safe plan and provide resources for your recovery.
Emergency care providers are specially trained to treat and manage life-threatening medical conditions. In the emergency room, people who have serious conditions, such as heart attack and stroke, are first in line before people with problems that are less serious.
Prevention Is the Best Line of Defense
Many urgent and emergency situations happen unexpectedly, but others can be anticipated or even avoided if you have a regular relationship with a primary care provider.
Consider your medical provider’s office as your health home base. As an established patient, you’ll be able to seek a sick visit appointment within a day or two, while getting an appointment as a new patient can take days or weeks. If you can’t be seen right away, your primary care office can advise you when to seek care at an urgent care center or emergency room.
Regular checkups and screenings can catch risk factors and early warning signs of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other serious health problems. If you make lifestyle changes, take your prescribed medications and see your care provider to regularly monitor your health, you can head off some problems before they turn into an emergency.
More to Read
- Should I Take My Child to the Emergency Room?
- Chest Pain: Can Stress Cause a Heart Attack?
- Stroke 101: How to Identify and Prevent Stroke
- Women’s Heart Attack Symptoms: Do You Know the Signs?
- Does Your Burn Need Medical Attention?
- Suicide Prevention: How to Recognize Red Flags—and Where to Reach Out for Help
Medically reviewed by Scott Burger, DO.
