Choosing Emergency Care or Urgent Care
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Emergency or Urgent Care?
Not sure whether you should go to the Emergency Department or Urgent Care? This quick guide can help you decide where to go for the care you need.
“Emergency” care is for serious or potentially life-threatening conditions, for which a visit to the Emergency Department at Sturdy Memorial Hospital is recommended. “Urgent care” is for illnesses and injuries that need prompt attention but are not life-threatening, for which Sturdy Health Urgent Care – Plainville is more appropriate.
Emergency Care
Go to the Emergency Department at Sturdy Memorial Hospital for serious or potentially life-threatening conditions including:
- Chest pain, especially when accompanied by sweating, shortness of breath, or pain that radiates to the jaw or arm
- Difficulty breathing
- Severe allergic reactions that affect breathing
- Heavy bleeding
- Vaginal bleeding in pregnancy
- Burns covering large areas of the body
- Sudden onset or severe headaches
- Head trauma while taking blood thinners
- Head or eye injury
- Deep wounds
- Dislocated joints
- Major extremity injury with deformity
- Severe palpitations
- Severe abdominal or back pain
- Sudden testicular or pelvic pain
- Persistent vomiting
- Fainting/loss of consciousness episode
- Seizure without a prior history of epilepsy
- Sudden confusion, difficulty speaking or understanding speech, weakness of an arm or leg, or sudden loss of vision in one or both eyes
- Suicidal thoughts
- Baby 3 months old or younger with fever of 100.4 degrees or higher
Urgent Care
Sturdy Health Urgent Care – Plainville provides care for many illnesses and injuries that need prompt attention but are not life-threatening including:
- Sore throat
- Earaches
- Cough
- Cold or flu symptoms
- Sinus pain
- Mild shortness of breath related to asthma
- Fever without rash
- Minor cuts requiring stitches
- Minor burns
- Rashes, including those related to poison ivy or tick bites
- Abscess requiring drainage
- Minor extremity injuries
- Sports-related injuries
- Mild back pain
- Muscular pain
- Persistent diarrhea
- Vomiting when you are still able to drink fluids
- Stomach pain that is not severe
- Suspected gout flare-ups
- Painful urination
- Flu shots
- X-ray services for possible minor bone fractures
