Going to an emergency room in hospital can be a scary to contemplate. You might worry about what will happen or what the ask the doctors. Read on to get answers to your questions about what to expect in an emergency room in hospital:

What’s the Emergency Room For?

It’s really important that the emergency room in hospital be kept clear for genuine emergencies. Emergency care is for things like treating accident victims, not for treating colds or sprains. Since 85% of urgent care centers are open all the time and four out of five of them will even provide care for fractures, it’s usually possible to get help for illnesses and injuries that are not life-threatening, even at odd hours, somewhere other than the emergency room. You will find doctors there who can take care of you: there are 20,000 doctors working in America’s urgent care centers today.

How Do They Decide Who To See?

The emergency room in hospital will see everyone and either treat them or get them to another place for treatment, but they prioritize according to how severe the emergency is. Unless you have an immediate emergency, first you’ll need to fill out a form about your complaint and any other medical problems you might have. An experienced triage nurse will then look at it decide how urgent your case is.

Naturally, it’s important that the emergency room physician see the most critical cases first, as a delay could possibly cost someone their life! So be aware that cases in an emergency room are not handled on a first-come, first-served basis. Also, resist the urge to look at other people being called in for treatment before you and think their case isn’t as serious as yours. Remember that the emergency room nurse and the doctors are making decisions with lots of information you can’t get just from sight.

How Does Treatment Work?

Your personal doctor might be well aware of your treatment history and physical condition, but that’s not the case in an emergency room in hospital. They need to find things out about you, so the first step is often diagnostic tests like blood tests, x-rays, or an EKG. Be aware that these take time to complete. A blood tests, for example, usually takes 90 minutes to completely evaluate.

After the tests, health care providers will either treat you on the spot, or have you admitted to the hospital. If necessary, they will call in a specialist from some other area of the hospital, but again be aware that these are very busy people will a full roster of scheduled work already. Except in the case of critical emergencies, they will come around to the emergency room when such a stop can fit into their schedule.

What About My Family?

There are two critical things that emergency rooms consider here: comfort and safety. If every person in the emergency room has a half dozen family and friends with them, things can become very difficult and uncomfortable for everyone else. It can also become a safety concern if emergency personnel and critical cases can’t easily maneuver for all the people in the way. For this reason, a lot of emergency rooms limit the number of visitors who can wait with you.

How Do I Leave?

Once you’re being seen for treatment, it’s best not to leave until the emergency room discharges you. If you’re discharged, it means the doctors and nurses believe it’s safe for you to go home, and someone will give you instructions about any medications or treatments you should be using once you leave. In some cases, you might be sent home but will receive a follow-up call later to make sure that treatment is working and your condition is improving.

Emergency rooms and the people who work there are there to help! The people working there care about those who come in and don’t want to leave anyone to suffer needlessly. To help them do their job, only use the emergency room for a real emergency: and when you’re there, know that everyone is working to treat all the patients as quickly and carefully as possible.