Choosing the Right Care: Common Questions

Choosing the Right Care: the questions people actually ask, answered from published guidance.

Key takeaways

• 911 and the emergency room: life-threatening emergencies
• Urgent care: urgent but not life-threatening problems, usually without an appointment
• Most useful single change: Ask a pharmacist about minor illness; no appointment needed.
• Commonest mistake: Going to the emergency room for problems urgent care or your doctor can handle.
• See a doctor if any of the signs under "When to get help" below apply to you.

What is Choosing the Right Care?

Choosing the right service for the problem you have.

Why does it matter?

Using the right service gets you seen faster, often costs less, and keeps emergency capacity for emergencies.

911 and the emergency room for Choosing the Right Care?

Life-threatening emergencies.

Urgent care for Choosing the Right Care?

Urgent but not life-threatening problems, usually without an appointment.

Nurse lines and telehealth for Choosing the Right Care?

Advice when you are unsure; many insurers and health systems offer them 24 hours.

Primary care provider for Choosing the Right Care?

New non-urgent symptoms, long-term conditions, preventive care.

What is the single most useful thing to do?

Ask a pharmacist about minor illness; no appointment needed.

What is the most common mistake?

Going to the emergency room for problems urgent care or your doctor can handle.

When should I see a doctor?

Call 911 for chest pain or tightness lasting more than a few minutes, sudden weakness or numbness on one side, facial drooping, difficulty speaking, severe breathlessness, heavy bleeding, seizures that do not stop, unconsciousness, or a rash that does not fade under pressure. Use the FAST test for stroke. For a possible poisoning in someone who is awake and breathing, call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222.

Related topics

• The Evidence on Using a Nurse Line or Urgent Care, Without the Hype (Using Health Services)
• Surprise Medical Bills: Sorting the Evidence From the Noise (Health Insurance and Costs)
• Sexual Health Services: What Published Guidance Supports (Sexual Health)
• Finding Substance Use Treatment: What Published Guidance Supports (Substance Use and Recovery)

Where to go next

• The Short Guide to Choosing the Right Care
• Choosing the Right Care: What Published Guidance Supports
• Choosing the Right Care — the reference entry
• Preventive Care: The Complete Guide
• The Evidence on Health Literacy, Without the Hype
• The Evidence on Occupational Health, Without the Hype

When to get help

Call 911 for chest pain or tightness lasting more than a few minutes, sudden weakness or numbness on one side, facial drooping, difficulty speaking, severe breathlessness, heavy bleeding, seizures that do not stop, unconsciousness, or a rash that does not fade under pressure. Use the FAST test for stroke. For a possible poisoning in someone who is awake and breathing, call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222.

Where this comes from

• MedlinePlus — When to use the emergency room - adult
• CMS — Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA)

How this page was put together

Every figure, recommendation and warning above is taken from the guidance named in Where this comes from. Nothing on this page is inferred, summarized or generalized beyond what those bodies publish: where they give a number, it is their number, and where they are silent, so are we. Pages are rebuilt whenever the underlying record changes. Sign-off by a named clinician, where it has happened, is shown at the top of the page along with the date.

Medical disclaimer

This article is general information, not medical advice. It cannot account for your own history, medication or circumstances. Always speak to your doctor, pharmacist or another qualified health professional before making changes that affect your treatment, and never delay seeking medical advice because of something you have read here. In an emergency, call 911.