When to head to the emergency room
Some issues can be handled by urgent care, often with less wait time
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, one of California’s largest academic health systems, is the clinical enterprise of the University of California, Irvine. The 1,461-bed system comprises its main campus UCI Health — Orange, its flagship hospital, the UCI Health — Irvine acute care hospital and medical campus, four hospitals and affiliated physicians of the UCI Health Community Network in Orange and Los Angeles counties and a network of ambulatory care centers across the region. UCI Health — Orange provides tertiary and quaternary care and is home to the only Orange County-based National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center, high-risk perinatal/neonatal program and American College of Surgeons-verified Level I adult and Level II pediatric trauma center, gold level 1 geriatric emergency department and regional burn center. Powered by UC Irvine, UCI Health serves 5.6 million people in Orange County, western Riverside County and southeast Los Angeles County. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter).