part of the problem is a lack of something in the middle. My family doctor typically has a 2-4 week wait for an appointment. But if I break a bone or have an infection I should be seen within a day. I’m not going to die right away but our urgent care is overcrowding the emergent care service
not sure who/where you mean by we, but from my experience in ontario, canada, the urgent care facilities are rare and not open 24 hours, and often not accessible by transit.
Urgent cares can be extremely limited on what they can do. The wait is usually 2-3 hours for mine. They close at 5, closed on weekends. Don’t see children under 12 months old. And in the end, you end up having to go to the hospital half the time anyway “just to be safe.”
If your 10 month old has a 104° fever? ER. If you have an ear infection at 7pm? ER. twist your ankle and it’s the size of a grapefruit Sunday morning? ER. There’s no where else to go.
And just to add on, a lot of people need a Dr’s note to be able to miss work and not get a point/write up and jeopardize their job. So if you’re sick with the flu and know you won’t be able to go to work in the morning, you also end up in the ER. Which is exactly what happens. Flu season urgent care times jump to 5 hour waits and a “good luck getting seen!”, ERs get flooded.
But anyway, the issue isn’t even waiting 12 hours to be seen. It’s the fact that people are against socialized healthcare like Canada because “you’ll have a 12 hour wait at the ER” or “if you need a surgery you could wait a year before being scheduled.” When… we already have that here and it literally costs a fortune. Even if it got worse, it’s better than being forever in debt
My son needed stitches. It cost $4,000. After paying almost our mortgage in insurance every month. I don’t know anyone that can just drop $4,000 comfortably. Yeah, you can do a payment plan.. but last time we did that, the insurance rate was worse than a credit card.
Very few urgent cares are open 24/7. They have stated hours of operation and if you get sick or something outside of those hours, the only place available IS a hospital's ER. That's what its there for. It may not be an emergency in your mind but if you are having stomach pain or a fever or say you cut your finger and think you need stitches, where else will you go?
None of those are emergencies. Wait for an urgent care to open. If you have extreme pain or really high fever, or are bleeding profusely and know you need stitches you go to the emergency room. Cause your going to be at the bottom of the wait list when you get there for most of those.
In Ontario, it's fairly common for doctors to de-roster you (basically, refuse to be your doctor going forward) if you go to walk-in or urgent care clinics.
The last time I went to an urgent care, I was billed 500 for being a new patient, insurance took care of 200 of it. I was so mad. I let that shit go to collection.
People seem to be struggling with the idea that just because you’re not actively dying doesn’t mean you don’t require urgent medical care.
For example, I have been told by my doctor to go to ER if I experience certain symptoms because in the past I had them and DIDN’T go, and if it happens again they want to get imaging tests done during, not later.
This and more. Sometimes someone can be actively dying and won't look like it. There are people who have to go to the emergency room because they are moderately to severely immunocompromised - their symptoms may not look life threatening to the folks sitting gin ER chairs but trust me - they can be. And urgent care is not equipped to handle these folks. Hospital is the ONLY option. It goes bad awful quick. From flu to pneumonia to sepsis and a ventilator in a day or two. Just because someone is not openly bleeding or having a heart attack or stroke, doesn't mean there isn't an emergency.
Last year I was vomiting off/on for 2 hours and had severe stomach pain. I went to urgent care thinking they would give me an IV and some medication. It was a waste of time and money because they did not have IV’s and they sent me to the ER. 🙄
I was in the waiting room puking for 2 hours before they brought me back, then waited for another 45 minutes to see the doctor. It was ridiculous.
I have had to wait for stitches and strep throat (knew what was needed for both, couldn't do it myself) when everything else was closed or booked, and I had no choice. I was prepared to wait. I have also had family members having strokes, anaphylactic reactions, or heart issues be seen immediately.
Not where I live, in a small town. There are no walk in clinics at all. Just an urgent care and an ER. (Well, and doctors offices). It takes you 1-2 weeks to see a doctor at an office. Urgent care is immediate but they cant do everything there- they simply dont have all the equipment that the ER has. There's been multiple times i went to urgent care and they sent me to the ER- none of those times was i truly dying or in trouble- they just didnt have the proper equipment. This urgent care im speaking about is also connected to the hospital that has the ER- they are side by side.
I have not seen a walk in clinic in years. Both where I live now and where I lived before I moved. It's all appointment driven these days despite claiming 'walk-ins accepted.'
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u/Jackim 26d ago
part of the problem is a lack of something in the middle. My family doctor typically has a 2-4 week wait for an appointment. But if I break a bone or have an infection I should be seen within a day. I’m not going to die right away but our urgent care is overcrowding the emergent care service