When to head to urgent care
Some issues can be handled there, often with less wait time than the emergency room
IN THE NEWS: When illness and injury strike, the emergency room may not be the ideal (or fastest) place to be seen. Many issues can be handled by urgent care.
Dr. Ryan Gibney, medical director of the emergency room at the UCI Health — Irvine acute care hospital, spoke to Huffington Post about what those issues are.
“Urgent care is ideal for rapid assessment and treatment of mild to moderate medical issues such as sprains and sports injuries, lacerations, cold and flu, rashes...as well as mild stomach pain, urinary symptoms, cuts, bumps, bruises, cough, cold [and] fever.”
Dr. Graham Stephenson, the medical director of urgent care services at UCI Health — Irvine, seconded this assessment but said that “issues with the heart,” like chest pressure or shortness of breath after minor activity, or problems with the brain, such as “head trauma while taking blood thinning medications, are often outside the scope of urgent care.”
Gibney is an emergency medicine physician and an associate professor at UC Irvine School of Medicine. Prior to medicine, he enjoyed a career in music and worked in the restaurant and hospitality industry, becoming a doctor later in life. Gibney draws on his leadership and customer service experience ito improve delivery of healthcare and develop meaningful relationships with his peers and patients.
Stephenson is an emergency medicine physician and an assistant professor of emergency medicine at the medical school.
About UCI Health
UCI Health is one of California’s largest academic health systems and the clinical enterprise of the University of California, Irvine. Established on July 1, 1976, UCI Health has grown into a 1,461-bed health system that includes UCI Health — Orange, UCI Health — Irvine, four Community Network hospitals and a growing network of ambulatory care centers across Orange and Los Angeles counties. As Orange County’s only academic health systems, UCI Health is home to the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center based in the county, the region’s only American College of Surgeons-verified Level I adult and Level II pediatric trauma center, American College of Emergency Physicians Gold Level 1 Geriatric Emergency Department and a nationally recognized regional burn center verified by the American Burn Association. Powered by UC Irvine, UCI Health serves 5.6 million people across Orange County, western Riverside County and southeast Los Angeles County through excellence in patient care, research and medical education. Follow UCI Health on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X.