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An 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 ca

An 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 ago
In 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 ago
I'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 ago
  I'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 ago
  Can 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.

jpatokal 8y ago

In 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 ago

I'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 ago
I'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 ago
Can 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.