Why do people go to the Emergency room when they don't have emergency's?

Question

I have been working at an ER for a few months now and I have noticed that the majority of people who come in don't really have life threatening emergency's. Why do you think this is? Most of the people who come in aren't really dying or even that sick. Do you think that most people are just paranoid?

Answer 1

I know what you mean- i notice most of them are lower income bracket, usually hispanic immigrants. i think its because they just don't have a regular pcp or know the standard routine- or they can't make an appointment in a reasonable amount of time, or don't know how to make an appointment and they (or family members) are often more apt to become concerned their illness is severe because they're scared they can't cure it and are in a foreign land. i dunno. sometimes i just have to wonder why people are here in emergency - they know they can't pay anyway welfare will catch the bill

Answer 2

Well there are a few reasons I can think of ...

1 better to be safe than sorry .. my brother had a heart attack in his 30's ... his first instinct was to stay home because it was probably bad indigestion ... he listened to us and is alive today to talk about it.

2 Some Insurance companies don't allow you to see a Dr when you're not in your covered area .. so the only way to be covered is thru the ER ... I'd hate to be on vacation and go to the ER for an ingrown toenail but it's pay the copay or foot the huge bill (no pun intended)

3 Drs aren't available night and day and if you're not sure what's going on and it's scaring you then that's the way it goes.

I'm sure for every person in the ER there is someone who dismissed the urgency and suffered because they waited for the appt to see the Dr

We're people with no medical degree, something happens that we're not sure how to deal with we do the best we can ... read some of the questions asked here and you'll see how little some understand what's a medical emergency and whats not.

Answer 3

I'm Italian,resident in Italy. I want post also my contribute to the discussion since here in Italy we have exactly the same problem.
In our ER are mainly going the white codes (we have 4 degres of urgence - in order are white-green-yellow and red) and as per our govt stats white codes are the 75% of the total. For this reason effective from this Jan.1st all the white codes requesting for ER must pay a ticket of a 25 €.
In this way we think it will be possible to descourage people that doesn't really need for ER and then give free access to the other most urgent cases. I don't think it's a matter of having or not an insurance.Here in Italy all the residents have free cares by the family doctor and service is paid by our welfare; in spite of this ER (at least upto now) are always full with people that is not in real need for it.
Let's see what will happen from now on.

Answer 4

I can't speak for the rest of the world, but I went to the ER this weekend with conjunctivitis. It wasn't life threatening, but I was having pain. I had seen two doctors during the week and they both had prescribed antibiotics. The antibiotics were not working. The doctor at the ER prescribed an eyedrop for severe allergies that has helped more than anything so far. So my answer is that some people expect to get higher quality health care from the ER, esp. on the weekend when specialists are not available.

Answer 5

There might be a few reason's: 1: A person thinks that they are sick and can't wait for a doctor's office to open to go get checked out, so they think the emergency room is the best place to go. 2: Some insurance's don't cover doctor's calls but do cover emergency room visit's so they figuare its cheaper to do it that way than to see a doctor in an office 3: I have been down in an emergency room, and there are people that just think they have to be there, or nothing else, or they don't have anywhere to go so they claim they are sick and they have a nice bed to lay in for a few hours. Just some suggestions.

Answer 6

In the emergency room you can get medical without ponying up right away or proving insurance. There's a lot of people out there who can't afford to pay for it. Go down to billing and look how much it costs a body to go to hospital for anything.

Answer 7

Some do it because they can go at anytime convenient for them. I don't think that many commerically insured people go for non-emergent reasons because the insurance co-pay is high for emergency room care. I think the ER is utilized for non-emergent care more by patients on Medicaid and the unisured.

Answer 8

It is so abused by people not wanting to make appointments to see a Dr. during regular hours. Kids with runny noses get my goat. Mothers should be charged double. You can't always judge a book by it's cover though, I walked in with my baby manys years ago as her stomach was extended, nothing on the outside to show she was sick, 1 hour later she was in surgery for a hernia that had gangarined. Saved her life by 30 mins.

Answer 9

It's a combination of a lot of things. Paranoia, No health insurance...I think the media has alot to do with it also, I mean anytime there is a report out on TV about some new disease or sickness people come in thinking they have it. Its crazy

Answer 10

There are a number of folks that >15 million in the US, that have no medical insurance. The ER is the only place they can get treatment. Also, there are folks who think they are sicker than they are. We have a society that thinks there is a pill for every illness.