Is the Emergency Room the Right Choice?

There are times when you just ‘know’ there is a need to go to the emergency room. Do not pass go, do not collect any money, go straight to the emergency room right now! There are no doubts in your mind. But there are other times you must question yourself if it is a real emergency. When your emotions are involved, when it is the health of your loved one and all the responsibility rests on you, how do you decide to take them to the emergency room or not?

The Emergency Room in Houston understands your dilemma. Many patients, especially men are likely to act like nothing is wrong and usually, do not want to go to the emergency room. They try to act like the symptoms are not severe because what if there is nothing wrong; people might think they are “wasting the doctor’s time” in a busy emergency room.

It seems like it never fails when you thought you had allergies going into the weekend and before you know it, over the weekend, it has turned into a terrible sinus infection, and your ears are killing you. Or, you go in and check on your baby at 10:00 p.m. and he feels warmer than usual, you take his temperature, and it is 104 degrees. How alarming can that be? It’s a Saturday night baseball game, and your son is slammed in the right temple by the ball and is not regaining consciousness.

The weekend and after hour doctor’s office hours issues never happen at a good time. They add to that feeling of ‘crisis mode’ and not knowing what to do or where you should go for what you feel like is an emergency.

There are no hard rules on whether to wait in the morning to see your doctor, take your loved one to the ER or go to an urgent care center. Some basic rules of thumb might help you make the best decisions to guide you in your choice for family and budget.

Everyone knows that if you think you are having a heart attack, have a life-threatening wound or injury, or have been in a major auto accident; then you need to be in the emergency room.

If you have a minor cut, sprain, sore throat, or ear infection that keeps coming back, then urgent care is the best place to go.

Sometimes there are those ‘grey’ areas as to whether we go to the ER or urgent care?

In these instances, go to the emergency center in Houston near you:

• Compound fracture (where the bone is coming out through the skin)
• Severe chest pain that is causing difficulty breathing and maybe sweating
• A newborn less than three months old with a fever
• Seizures, convulsions, or loss of consciousness
• Uncontrolled, heavy breathing
• Moderate-severe burns
• Deep knife wounds
• Gunshot wounds
• Severe neck, head, or back injuries
• Poisoning
• Severe abdominal pain
• Any problems related to pregnancy
• Signs of heart attack or chest pain that lasts longer than two minutes
• Possible stroke: symptoms of which – sudden numbness, slurred speech, confusion, loss of vision
• Someone who has suicidal or homicidal thoughts or feelings