When to Go to the ER vs. Urgent Care vs. a Walk-in Clinic (podcast)

Scripps Health.
2018-12-19T10:00:08-08:00

Scripps physicians discuss when to go to the emergency room, urgent care and walk-in clinic. Knowing where to go can make a life and death difference.

Scripps treats emergencies, offers same-day service for non-emergencies

Dr. Shawn Evans, Emergency Medicine, Scripps La Jolla

Editor's note: This video was produced prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. If you are experiencing any of the emergency warning signs of COVID-19, seek emergency medical care immediately. Call 911 or call ahead to your nearest emergency room and notify the operator that you are seeking care for someone who has or may have COVID-19. Also, don’t hesitate to seek emergency care if you are experiencing a life-threatening condition even when not related to COVID-19.

So you have a sore throat, a cough, or maybe you cut yourself chopping vegetables. What if your baby spikes a fever, or you yourself are in pain or feeling dizzy or weak? Where should you go? The emergency room, urgent care, or a walk-in clinic? When should you call 911?

The answers to these questions could actually save your life.

In this episode of San Diego Health, host Susan Taylor and guests Shawn Evans, MD, an emergency medicine physician at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla, and Siu Ming Geary, MD, an internal medicine physician and vice president of primary care for the Scripps Clinic Medical Group, discuss the different types of same-day care available, when to go to the emergency room and where to go for non-emergencies.

Unlike urgent care and the ER, walk-in clinics like Scripps HealthExpress treat low-acuity problems — such as a sore throat, ear infection, or sprained ankle — when a patient can’t wait for an appointment with his or her primary care doctor. For an illness or an injury that’s serious, but hasn’t become life- or limb-threatening, urgent care is the way to go.

A hospital emergency room is generally reserved for someone with a life- or limb-threatening condition — such as from an accident, chest pain or an eye injury — who needs help immediately. Call 911 only in extreme situations — such as a heart attack, stroke, heavy bleeding — or if a patient needs immediate care and can’t get to the hospital on their own or with the help of a friend or family member.

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Learn what constitutes an emergency and non-emergency

Podcast highlights

Watch the video on ED vs. urgent care vs. walk-in clinic

Watch the San Diego Health video with host Susan Taylor and guests Drs. Shawn Evan and Siu Ming Geary where they discuss the difference between the emergency room, urgent care and walk-in clinic.
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