Knowing when a condition is serious enough to warrant a visit to your hospital’s emergency room is vital information.
You can prevent an unnecessary and costly trip to the ER by knowing when it is appropriate to go or whether you can opt for a trip to an urgent care centre or family physician instead.
When to take your infant to the ER:
• It is best to first contact your doctor through their on call number in order to gauge the seriousness of the situation.
• In babies under 3 months old, if their temperature is over 100.3F
• In babies 3+ months old, if their temperature is over 105F.
• Changes in skin color ( Turning pale, yellow, or mottled.
• Changes in their normal cry.
• Changes in sleeping patterns, hard to wake.
• Changes in muscle tone, or they feel different.
• Breathing changes ( Slow, labored)
• If your baby turns blue.
When to take your child to the Emergency Room
1: If your child has difficulty breathing, signs include:
• Breathing faster than normal.
• Visible ribs or collarbone when breathing in.
• The belly moving outward when breathing in.
• The nostrils moving outward when breathing in.
2: if your child has a fever and a stiff neck, dehydration, or a condition that makes them more susceptible to infections.
3: Call 911 immediately if your child has a fever and stops breathing, has a seizure or is difficult to rouse.
4: if your child has ingested a toxic chemical or a medication that was not prescribed to them.
5: if your child has a broken bone, a bone that looks out of place or is obviously deformed, an open wound where a bone may be broken, or if your child reports that the area feels numb, tingling, or weak.
When to go to the Emergency room as an Adult:
The decision to go to the EM becomes easier as an adult, because you are the one afflicted understanding the seriousness of the situation.
• Signs of a stroke.
• Loss of consciousness
• Signs of a heart attack lasting two minutes or more.
• Poisoning, call your local poison control center first and ask for immediate home treatment advice. Certain poisons should be vomited, others should be diluted with water.
• Drowsiness unexplained, or disorientation.
• Bleeding that does not stop after ten min of direct pressure.
• Sudden, and severe pain.
• A major injury, such as a head truma.
• A severe reaction to an insect bite/ sting
• Severe or persistent vomiting.
• Homicidal or suicidal feelings.
