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I call my Dr.
I book an appointment. If urgent but not medically urgent to my immediate wellbeing I can get in in a week or so.
If urgent, but not emergency, I can go to a clinic or the hospital non emergency (hospital can have wait times up to several hours)
If emergency and severe or traumatic injury or life threatening - emergency at hospital. Triage assesses need. Last time I had to take someone it was maybe a 20 minute wait - they had been hurt pretty bad - got jumped.
None of any of the above will cost me any money.
An ambulance, though, costs like 75$ if it is not life threatening.
Canada.
The hospitals usually have a severity for triage. If you broke your arm your going to be waiting longer than someone with a sever allergic reaction. Which makes sense, some injuries can wait longer than others.
That part is normal in US emergency rooms as well.
Because, logic.
But since money interferes with logic in so many ways it seemed necessary to mention it.
Sorry. The "money" part didn't actually factor in for me because I'm in Canada and it wasn't on my mind. Doesn't mean we don't pay for it through taxes I just mean it wasn't on my mind. I just meant greater severity should equal earlier service.
Yes. If I have to wait in the ER, I try to think of it as a sign that I'm going to be okay.
Extremely fast service, or people suddenly starting to be really really nice to you, means something very bad is going on.
But the wait times in US emergency rooms are longer since people are there who are unable to get the care they need elsewhere or they haven’t been able to afford to go to the doctor and have no waited until it’s an emergency.
Honestly, as someone who's spent a lot of time in emergency departments, it depends a lot on the hospital and the time of day. Sometimes they're packed and sometimes they're almost empty. (At those times it's very important not to invite disaster by mentioning how quiet it is.) Having an Urgent Care in the same place for Triage to divert people into helps a lot as well.
Can confirm the same thing, there have been times where I've gone in, checked in, and speaking to the doctor within 20 minutes of stepping in the door - whereas other times I've waited 5+ hours to even be given a room to sit in (and then wait another couple of hours for a doctor to see me).
I think your definition of "urgent" might be off if you think that it can wait a week or so.
No that tracks for me, and I work in Healthcare in the US just the same. I personally had what I perceived as urgent but non-emergent and got into my doctor within a week.
I would go to urgent care (I know it's in the name but alas) if I had more pressing concerns or symptoms were bad but not life-threatening.
I would go to the ER if I was in massive pain and felt at imminent risk of death.
"Emergency" and "urgent" are different categories in hospitals.
And actually defined, at least in my local Canadian hospital.
Urgent Care is defined as infections, lacerations, wounds, less serious injuries, minor Pediatric illness, situational crisis support, Women's Health services, contraceptive management, etc. So stuff that "could" wait about a week if necessary. I find they can get to stuff much sooner, based on anything I've needed or reports from friends and family.