Dr. Andy Fine recommends that a patient visit an emergency care only for life threatening emergencies. A patient who may have uncontrollable abdominal pain or chest pain can always call the primary care office first, even if it is after hours, to assess if they need to go the emergency room. Oftentimes, if a patient has symptoms and discomfort that is not life threatening, the primary care office can save you time.
The primary care physician is available on call twenty-four hours a day, as well as nights and weekends to help you determine the place that is best and most appropriate for the treatment of your symptoms. If the primary care physician decides that you need to go to the emergency room, the physician can call the ER staff and administration directly and explain the severity of your symptoms and get you to faster treatment.
The primary care physician can save you the time spent in the emergency waiting room for evaluation and waiting possibly hours in line behind others who may have less emergent symptoms. Patients should keep in mind that emergency rooms are designed to attend to everyone as quickly as possible. Their job is not to get to the underlying symptom but to get you on your way and move onto the next patient who might have something life threatening.
Calling the primary care physician first might be helpful to help avoid long waits and for quicker relief to your symptoms.
Let Colorado Primary Care be the first place you call to treat your concerns.
