When you’re dealing with an immediate and serious health concern, your top priority is getting the most effective care as quickly as possible. But what’s the best place to find that care?
Outside of obvious situations—like chest pain you think could be a heart attack—it can be confusing to know if you should get a ride to the emergency room or if you can head to your nearest urgent care.
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Here’s exactly when you should get emergency medical attention and when you can find what you need at an urgent care facility—or even at a virtual appointment.
When to go to the ER
Emergency rooms are famous for their long wait times and expensive bills. But even if you’re motivated to avoid these inconveniences, it’s essential you go to the ER when it’s warranted.
Go to the ER or call 911 anytime your symptoms could be life-threatening, according to UChicago Medicine.
Experts say that if you or someone you are with is experiencing any of the following symptoms, you should go to an emergency department:
Symptoms of a heart attack: chest pain, pain in the arm or jaw, shortness of breath
Symptoms of a stroke: weakness on one side of the body, slurred speech, suddenly not being able to speak or see, weakness or drooping on one side of the body
Significant trauma or injury, especially to the head or neck
Severe lower abdominal pain
Severe allergic reaction
Serious burns
Heavy bleeding
Symptoms of sepsis: sudden confusion, high fever that does not get better with medicine
Stopped breathing
If you’re experiencing anything that needs to be treated “in minutes,” go to an emergency room, says Dr. Arjun Venkatesh, professor of emergency medicine and chair of the department of emergency medicine at Yale School of Medicine.
Emergency rooms typically have technology that urgent facilities don’t have that allow ERs to do more advanced imaging, like CAT scans, says Dr. Victoria Leybov, clinical assistant professor in the department of emergency medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and medical director of the virtual urgent care program at NYU Langone Health.
When to go to urgent care
Urgent care facilities are equipped to handle timely health concerns that aren’t life-threatening emergencies. Symptoms that are appropriate to treat at an urgent care facility, Levbov and Venkatesh say, include:
Colds, flus, and coughs
Scrapes or cuts, especially if you think you might need a tetanus shot
Ear pain
Minor injuries
Minor headaches
Diarrhea
Rash
You might typically turn to your primary care physician to treat many of these concerns. But your regular doctor won’t always have same-day appointments available, Leybov says.
Read More: What’s Behind Your Persistent Cough?
If staff at an urgent care center determine you need more treatment than they can provide, they’re very familiar with referring patients to emergency rooms. This happens frequently for symptoms like chest pain, abdominal pain when appendicitis could be a risk, or severe injuries, Leybov says.
“There’s wide variability in terms of what services are available at every urgent care,” Venkatesh says. For example, some may have X-ray machines, while others might not. Some may only be able to run specific blood tests; some may not be able to do stitches.
What about telemedicine?
Depending on your symptoms, you might be a good candidate for a virtual urgent care visit. The big benefit there is “you can get care from wherever you are,” Leybov says. Not only is that easier on you when you’re not feeling well, but you also won’t expose anyone else to a potentially contagious bug, she says.
Telehealth urgent care appointments are appropriate for many symptoms and conditions, she says, including:
Upper-respiratory infections like colds, flu, and COVID-19
Asthma
Urinary tract infections (UTIs)
Minor headaches
Rashes
Diarrhea
When you want answers quickly, virtual urgent care may be your fastest route to figuring out what you need, Leybov says. You can ask questions about what cough medicine to try, getting an antibiotic prescribed, or figuring out how long to stay home from work without leaving the comfort of your bed.
Read More: There’s a New Pill to Treat UTIs
What if you’re not sure?
Venkatesh says sometimes patients feel “guilty” for going to the emergency room and being diagnosed with something mild and not life-threatening—but you should let go of that guilt, he says. “The reality is, there are symptoms for which we know if we see people quickly in the emergency department, we have life-saving therapies.” For a stroke, for example, certain clot-busting medications need to be given in the first few hours after symptoms begin, he explains.
Don’t miss out on that opportunity just because you’re concerned your chest pain might not be that bad. If you went to urgent care instead, you could use up valuable time waiting to be seen and then referred to an ER anyway.
Sometimes emergency symptoms are vague: Instead of feeling like an elephant is sitting on your chest, more subtle chest pressure could still be a sign of a heart attack, he says. But how long it takes you to go to an ER with a possible heart attack or stroke could be the deciding factor in being eligible for certain fast-acting, life-saving treatments or not, he says.
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If you’re able to, you can always call your primary care office or a telehealth urgent care line and get advice about where you should go, he adds.
He also urges anyone to go to the ER even if they’re worried about the potential cost. The Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act or EMTALA law “protects access to emergency care for everybody,” he says. What that law says is “if somebody feels like they’re having an emergency and needs care in an emergency department, they should be able to access that care,” he explains, regardless of their ability to pay.
“I feel terrible when there’s a patient who has a stroke or is having a heart attack and because of fear doesn’t get to us as quickly as they should or doesn’t seek care,” he says. “I worry that there are so many fears out there that keep people from getting the care they need, when they need it.”