Would you go to the ER for this?

Urgent care would be fine and would be my first choice if it were me or my family. I'm a big fan of walk in care clinics.

But with the symptoms of nausea/fever/dizziness it's not something that could wait and I could understand an ER visit if urgent care wasn't available, as they would be able to lance it if necessary.

We get some UNBELIEVABLE traumas that turn up here!

- The most pathetic one recently was a man that turned up with an 'itchy back' ... having just come from having his hair cut! ... it was the hairs down his shirt:lol2: (one of those moments when you had to bite your tongue !!!! - you couldnt make it up sometimes)

If it were me or my family member, my first call would be to the PCP.

If it were me or my family member, my first call would be to the PCP.

No offense, but spoken like someone who has health insurance.

Sadly, many are without health insurance. Even at the urgent care clinics they require payment for services at the time of the visit. Not everyone can afford that. Now that I have health insurance, I would not go to the ER with such a concern, but without it...you betcha. There are no other options. Have you ever tried making an appointment with a doctor without insurance? It's a pretty quick call and ends with "Sorry, unless you pay in advance we can't see you".

We get some UNBELIEVABLE traumas that turn up here!

- The most pathetic one recently was a man that turned up with an 'itchy back' ... having just come from having his hair cut! ... it was the hairs down his shirt:lol2: (one of those moments when you had to bite your tongue !!!! - you couldnt make it up sometimes)

Wow, that's .....amazing. LOL.

had someone come in by ambulance for a paper cut. I couldn't even find it, she had to point it out to me. Can we say therapeutic wait time.

I'm the most skeptical person on the planet when it comes to quality of care...but I would feel perfectly comfortable going to Urgent care for just about anything except breathing issues/chest pains/broken bones.

I had a huge boil as a child under my arm (still have a scar from it), and it was toward my back and I couldn't readily see it, and my mom only discovered it after I ran a fever...she just gave me Tylonal until the next day, but kept alternating between hot and cold compresses on it until then.

No offense, but spoken like someone who has health insurance.

Sadly, many are without health insurance. Even at the urgent care clinics they require payment for services at the time of the visit. Not everyone can afford that. Now that I have health insurance, I would not go to the ER with such a concern, but without it...you betcha. There are no other options. Have you ever tried making an appointment with a doctor without insurance? It's a pretty quick call and ends with "Sorry, unless you pay in advance we can't see you".

The Urgent Cares in my area, the whole reason I go, is when I tell them I don't have insurance, they only charge me about $60 and sometimes give me sample meds so I don't have to get a prescription filled.

I was very, very ill in October...I was in early stages of pneumonia, and the Urgent Care doctor wanted to put me into the hospital, and I started crying and I told him I didn't have insurance....he gave me a breathing treatment for an hour, didn't charge me for it...and could give me all of the meds (steriods, etc) but one for free...but made me PROMISE to come back in two days so he could listen to my lungs again...no charge.

Then I was crying because I was so grateful (I told him I had quit work to try to go to nursing school), he just gave me a casual hug and said, "Hey, what do you think we all did while in med school? You can pay me back by being a great nurse."

I had never been so incredibly humbled.

No offense, but spoken like someone who has health insurance.

Sadly, many are without health insurance. Even at the urgent care clinics they require payment for services at the time of the visit. Not everyone can afford that. Now that I have health insurance, I would not go to the ER with such a concern, but without it...you betcha. There are no other options. Have you ever tried making an appointment with a doctor without insurance? It's a pretty quick call and ends with "Sorry, unless you pay in advance we can't see you".

I've had many times in my life where I didn't have health insurance and my first call would be to my family doc. Anything he came up with sure would be a HECK of a lot cheaper than an ER visit. :uhoh21:

No offense, but spoken like someone who has health insurance.

Sadly, many are without health insurance. Even at the urgent care clinics they require payment for services at the time of the visit. Not everyone can afford that. Now that I have health insurance, I would not go to the ER with such a concern, but without it...you betcha. There are no other options. Have you ever tried making an appointment with a doctor without insurance? It's a pretty quick call and ends with "Sorry, unless you pay in advance we can't see you".

No offense, but spoken like someone who feels they are entitled to receive health care (for non-life-threatening situations) at no cost.

Health insurance or not, isn't the goal to get the best appropriate care at the lowest out-of-pocket cost? Without insurance, an office visit will probably run me less than $200 ... an ER visit will be a minimum of $500 to $1000.

I cannot imagine expecting services to be provided (in a non-life-threatening situation) for free -- I expect to have to pay appropriately for services, whether that's in the form of insurance premiums or directly out of my pocket.

No offense, but spoken like someone who feels they are entitled to receive health care (for non-life-threatening situations) at no cost.

Health insurance or not, isn't the goal to get the best appropriate care at the lowest out-of-pocket cost? Without insurance, an office visit will probably run me less than $200 ... an ER visit will be a minimum of $500 to $1000.

I cannot imagine expecting services to be provided (in a non-life-threatening situation) for free -- I expect to have to pay appropriately for services, whether that's in the form of insurance premiums or directly out of my pocket.

AMEN!!!

I would have chosen to go to an urgent care frankly if one was open. If not I may have tried benadryl in case it was an insect bite, tylenol for the fever, and wait it out only if my respirations were good. If I had any trouble with my resps or throat...ER.

I have had this happen, and it wound up being a spider bite. I was able to wait it out till the urgent clinic was open and didn't suffer any ill effects thankfully! But you never know, some people can be highly sensitive needing more help immediately.