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An emergency room is not a "basic visit".
by vonmoltke 8y ago
An emergency room is not a "basic visit".
- jakobegger 8y agoTaking a kid with fever to the ER is about as basic as you get.
- DanBC 8y agoDoesn't the US have out-of-hours pharmacies, or out of hours doctors, or urgent but not emergency treatment centres?
- kelnos 8y agoNot really. There are non-ER/non-hospital urgent-care centers, but they usually keep to roughly normal business hours. For after-hours care, the ER at a hospital is often your only option.
- bradknowles 8y agoDepends on where you are. Some places have 24-hour Urgent Care centers that can handle the basic stuff that doesn't need a real ER. But many places don't have any kind of Urgent Care centers, much less one that is open 24 hours a day.
- AlexTWithBeard 8y agoFor those from tri-state area: folks, PM Pediatrics is a blessing. They're open till midnight, waiting times are reasonable and they are billed as PCP by the insurance.
- kelnos 8y agoYes, that's why I said "usually" and "often".
- seanmcdirmid 8y agoYes, kind of. They can handle a few things (ear aches, something that requires anti biotics, basic pain relief) with a nurse practitioner.
- filoleg 8y agoYep. Usually the rule of thumb is: * Potentially life-threatening emergency: ER * Something like a broken bone or fever that needs to be fixed asap, but not life-threatening: Urgent Care * Everything else that can wait a bit: regular doctor appt
- cm2012 8y agoNot really. I live in Queens, NYC and there's no 24 hour urgent cares I'm aware of within a 30 minute drive.
- wirrbel 8y agoIt is a basic visit. I attended a first-aid training for new parents here in my home country and the general advice was to seek help if in doubt, at night times by calling an ambulance or visiting, well, the emergency room. In two years we were there with our baby two times. Not charged a penny. During this time, I went once, my wife went once. In all instances we were reassured that it was appropriate to visit the hospital instead of visiting the GP the next day.
- AlexTWithBeard 8y agoInterestingly, in the UK they had a large "this is not an emergency" campaign trying to make people to choose GPs over emergency services.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- swish_bob 8y agoAnd provide us with a dedicated phone number staffed by people trained to identify whether it is, in fact, an emergency, who will tell you to call an ambulance if necessary.
- lhorie 8y agoYeah, taking a kid with a high fever to the ER in Toronto is a total no-brainer since it's 100% covered by OHIP. Now living in SF, and I've found myself mentally doing risk probability calculations, and concluding I'd be better off skipping the ER and instead following the instructions from off-the-shelf motrin because the ER visit is likely not worth the cost. My wife firmly believes the US healthcare system is a giant scam where insurance companies leech off people without actually providing any value.
- toast0 8y ago> My wife firmly believes the US healthcare system is a giant scam where insurance companies leech off people without actually providing any value. Health insurance in the US is built around providing value to employers. Most employers are concerned about which network is going to upset the fewest key employees and cost the least amount of money for the employer, while fulfilling all legal obligations, without making the employees spend too much time dealing with the insurance company when they could be working. Nicer employers may want to cover more of the cost, or want to upset fewer employees, or have specific things they want covered that aren't legally obligated. There's also the problem that different groups of people want totally different things from the system. I like integrated care, because it provides me with a single place to go, that handles everything, even though it may not always be the best care. Other people are more focused on getting the best care, and are ok with (or prefer) to pick the individuals who provide each service, even though it means visiting multiple locations. Nicer employers offer you a choice of providers, but it would probably be less expensive for them if everyone was on one plan, at the cost of upsetting more employees.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- FactolSarin 8y agoThe greatest trick healthcare companies have pulled is convincing Americans that after hours visits for things like high fevers and broken bones isn't basic care. I'm 40, and my Mom was telling me about how my brother cut his head as a child, and the local small town doctor came in after hours to stitch it up. Different era.
- noelsusman 8y agoYou don't need an ER for any of those things. We already solved this problem with Urgent Care.
- fucking_tragedy 8y agoWhere I am, urgent care closes at 8PM and only takes two of the several insurance providers that are common. ER is open 24/7 and doesn't turn people away even if they don't accept their insurance plan.
- titanomachy 8y agoYeah, it's relatively low-probability but still essential. Getting a broken bone fixed seems like more of a basic human right than a "premium service".
- refurb 8y agoThat’s what urgent care is for. You shouldn’t be going to the ER for a typical fever or a cut requiring stitches.
- pmiller2 8y agoWhat do you do when they’re closed? Guess how many urgent cares within 15 miles of where I live are open at 3:30 AM? I live in a major metro area, and the answer is ZERO.
- refurb 8y agoWe have some 24 hr ones here, but yes, if it’s not an emergency, but you need immediate attention, the ER might be your only option.
- interpol_p 8y agoAn emergency room is a fairly regular visit if you are a parent. I have three young kids and all of them have been to emergency at least a few times — you'll call the government hotline, they'll tell you how urgent it sounds, then you go They don't want anyone to risk staying home with their child if there's a chance that they are in danger This is in Australia and there is no cost for this
- jpatokal 8y agoIn Australia, you can also call a home visiting doctor outside business hours & on weekends, they'll come to your house in O(hours) and diagnose you for free. If you have some private health plans on top, they'll dispense basic meds like antibiotics on the spot as well. Far more convenient and likely cheaper to the taxpayer than waiting around ER for hours with a cranky baby with an ear infection.
- dboreham 8y agoI'd be careful you're talking about the same thing as a US ER because there are two other places you can take your kids in an "emergency" in the US that are not called ER: you can go to the kid's pediatrician who will have emergency appointments during roughly the same hours stored are open (e.g. Saturday and Sunday); and there are Urgent Care centers that are usually open late into the evening 7 days or possibly 7*24h. Urgent Care have basic X-ray and will stitch up pretty bad gashes. I have two kids and we've only been to the ER one time when my son was in anaphylaxis. Broken arms, facial lacerations, were handled at Urgent Care.
- JshWright 8y agoI've been to the ER half a dozen times with my son (reactive airway issues every time he gets a cold). It's totally something we could manage at home, but it took forever to convince our GP to prescribe the necessary meds (she was more comfortable with us going to the ER, despite the cost (both financially and the added stress of packing up a 1 year old to go to the ER)).
- ajdlinux 8y agoCan confirm in Australia "emergency" does mean the department with the giant red emergency sign at your local hospital. We have late-night general practitioner services here (at least in the city), which I have used for less-urgent stuff.
- seba_dos1 8y agoI'd say that it applies even more to an emergency room.