Using a Nurse Line or Urgent Care: A Practical Checklist
Using a Nurse Line or Urgent Care: what is worth doing, what is worth avoiding, and when to stop and see a doctor.
The options between your regular doctor and the ER: after-hours lines, nurse advice lines, telehealth visits and urgent care centers. They are often the fastest way to find out whether something needs the ER, a doctor's visit, a pharmacy or nothing at all.
Key takeaways
- Nurse advice lines: many insurers offer a free 24/7 line; the number is usually on your insurance card
- After-hours line: most primary care offices have an on-call clinician outside office hours
- Most useful single change: Save your doctor's after-hours number and your insurer's nurse line in your phone now.
- Commonest mistake: Using a nurse line, telehealth or urgent care for a life-threatening emergency instead of 911.
- See a doctor if any of the signs under "When to speak to a doctor" below apply to you.
Do
- Save your doctor's after-hours number and your insurer's nurse line in your phone now
- Have your medicine list and insurance card ready before you call
- Say if you are pregnant, have a weakened immune system, or are calling about a baby or an older adult
- Call back or seek care again if symptoms change rather than waiting for the original advice to fit
Do not
- Using a nurse line, telehealth or urgent care for a life-threatening emergency instead of 911
- Choosing an urgent care center without checking it is in your network
- Hanging up before you have a clear plan
The numbers behind the list
The reasoning behind both lists, in numbers.
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Nurse advice lines | many insurers offer a free 24/7 line; the number is usually on your insurance card |
| After-hours line | most primary care offices have an on-call clinician outside office hours |
| Telehealth | video or phone visits for many minor problems and follow-ups |
| Urgent care | walk-in care for problems that need same-day attention but are not life-threatening |
| Cost | urgent care and telehealth usually cost less than the ER; check your plan's copays |
If you change one thing
Save your doctor's after-hours number and your insurer's nurse line in your phone now. It is first on the list above. If the rest feels like too much at once, start there and leave the others.
Related topics
- Choosing the Right Care: What Published Guidance Supports (Preventive Care)
- Sexual Health Services: What Published Guidance Supports (Sexual Health)
- The Evidence on Prenatal Care Schedule, Without the Hype (Pregnancy and Postpartum)
- Physical Therapy Services: Sorting the Evidence From the Noise (Rehabilitation)
Where to go next
- Using a Nurse Line or Urgent Care: A Beginner-Friendly Start
- Using a Nurse Line or Urgent Care: Common Questions Answered
- Using a Nurse Line or Urgent Care — the reference entry
- Using Health Services: The Complete Guide
- Having an MRI Scan: What Published Guidance Supports
- Having a Blood Test: Sorting the Evidence From the Noise
When to speak to a doctor
Call 911 instead for chest pain, severe breathlessness, heavy bleeding, seizures, signs of stroke, or a child who is floppy, will not wake, or has a rash that does not fade when pressed. Call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222 for a possible poisoning. See your own doctor for problems that last or keep coming back.
Where this comes from
- American College of Emergency Physicians — Know When to Go
- HHS — What is telehealth?
- MedlinePlus — When to use the emergency room - adult
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.
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