I thought it would be a U turn for hangnail.

I wish we could have this playing in the ER lobby over and over again

I've said for years that if urgent cares were open 24/7, then ERs wouldn't be so crowded.

This is, most people know the difference. In the US the real problem is no health insurance. Need help but have no money or health insurance? Your only option is the ER. The system is broken, not the people

Urgent care happened to be closed when I was experiencing chronic back pain, so I ended up going to the ER. The ER noticed some issues regarding my WBC count. They ended up admitting me, and after running biopsies, they found I had stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. While this isn't common, I'm grateful UC was closed, even after they accepted my appointment because it would have been a few extra steps I would have had to take, as opposed to just going to the ER. I wouldn't have even known where to start.

I have a back issue and suddenly started losing feeling in the toes of my left foot and experiencing goosebumps on the thigh of my left leg. It was late, so I called my UC to see what I should do, go to the ER or try to wait it out until the next morning to call my docs. They treated me as if I was stupid and told me to go to the ER asap. At the ER, the doctor claimed "I don't understand why you're here or what you expect me to do - you need a specialist." Again, everybody treated me like an idiot and told me to do exactly what I had originally planned to do. I paid $1400+ for no care and bad attitudes. Videos like this are so off-putting to me. Believe it or not, not all of us are complete morons - we are simply doing what other "experts" in your field are telling us to do.

If you have back pain that travels down your leg, especially if you have leg weakness and numbness it is absolutely an ER visit.

I went to Urgent Care only to be told I needed to go to the ER. Had to drive myself there.

Some people don’t have insurance and don’t have any other option than the ER. Especially if they have to miss work and are told they have to have a doctor’s excuse.

They said CHRONIC back pain. If you experience back pain out of no where it could be something more serious. One of the symptoms of my pancreatitis was back pain.

One thing I learned while taking care of my mom , if they're on blood thinners, always ER

The hospital I went to...and I was 53 at the time....was sooo good about seeing my pain...I had appendicitis...outta the blue...hurt sooo bad! I didn't mean to be so dramafied...but I was in so much pain!!!! They were awesome! Next morning had an appendectomy...doc said it literally exploded when he took it out! Bless all y'all health care workers 🙏❤

Except in my small town the urgent care closes at 5pm

I wish more people would use urgent care for non life threatening problems. It's less expensive and more than likely a shorter wait time.

So this is why my local ER takes 3 hours to be triaged for a gsw.

Yay, but urgent care doesn't seem to know what they are doing. Every time I've gone, I was put on the wrong medicine, or I was told I had this, but it was something different.

Dude, urgent cares were not open when i nearly passed out due to having my toenail ripped off, so i more than wish i didn’t have to pay the bill 💀

I went to ug for back pain, then again, then a month later the ER. It was gall stones and noone knew it!

These are cool. Chronic back pain really needs to be heading to a specialist, though, not urgent care or the ER.

I was turned away from urgent care and told I had to go to the emergency room at a hospital because Medicare wouldn't pay them

These ladys do realize the reason some ppl go to the ER instead of UC is because if they're poor enough, the hospital writes off the cost of their care.

sometimes tho the lower back pain can indicate a more serious problem. i had lower back pain from a kidney infection. i had a uti turn into one because i went to urgent care a couple times and they either gave me wrong diagnosis or wrong prescription, then i went to the actual hospital but because urgent care gave me the wrong medication the day prior, it concealed my symptoms but didnt actually kill the infection so the first hospital sent me away thinking i was lying but even tho they couldnt see anything i still had something going on and then it finally got so bad to the point where i almost died for people to take my back pain seriously and i got admitted and taken care of at JH. point is keep pushing and dont downplay it just be straightforward and you know your body.

Problem is that many uninsured people do go to the ER.

For those of us living near the Mexican border, we just go to Mexico for all of those! Fast and efficient medical services at affordable prices.

I remember feeling bad when I showed up to an ER complaining of food poisoning symptoms, ended up getting a code sepsis to my bed # and in rolled all of the nurses 😅 I’m glad I went in even with all of the guilt.

I had chronic very very severe back pain and literally told “sounds muscular so we are going to give you a muscle relaxer and you can go home” ……… TWO DAYS LATER I WAS BEING RUSHED INTO EMERGENCY SURGERY. Do not let people kid you into thinking back pain can be treated at an urgent care. Go to the ER and demand a MRI if you KNOW something is wrong. See a specialist.

I disagree about the chronic back pain! Sometimes those are symptoms of other serious conditions that need to be addressed and could be life changing! Urgent care could waste time on that and then it would be detrimental. Example would be: abdominal aneurism or kidney stones etc.

I want to have this kind of time of my hands at my job…

Shootttt I’m PETRIFIED of the ER! I go to UC or wait for my primary for EVERYTHING! Once my doctor told me to go to the ER and when I walked in I had a panic attack and they had to give me something to calm me down. No thank you

I wouldn't just say UC to everyone. Sometimes you have to trust your gut. I had back pain for two weeks. Went to the doctor's twice in that timespan. It wasn't until I threw up that my parents started taking me seriously. Went to the ER, they couldn't help me, so they sent me to a children's hospital. I had a bilateral DVT in my IVC and it got infected. I would have died if I waited until Monday (it was a Saturday night) because it was almost to my kidneys. Pulled out two ft of clot and I needed a lot of blood after my angio vac. Sometimes pain that feels muscular is not muscular. I had no history of clots. I found out after the fact that I have the factor 2 mutation and I was on birth control which contributed to it. I was 16, currently 20. Trust your gut when you know something truly isn't normal. Especially if you've tried all the other routes people said you should. I just remember that i was treated poorly by the nurses, who honestly assumed I was pregnant. The doctor took me serious but he was kind of clueless. The staff messed up my CT scan, otherwise i would have been flown to the hospital because they would have seen the massive blood clot. Instead they had my parents drive me to the other hospital. I was in so much pain and felt so sick. Glad my parents took me in and didn't make me wait.

Last time I went to an urgent care I got screamed at by the receptionist on my follow up because the doctor forgot to schedule my x-ray, and they charged me $90 for the pleasure. The original visit, the same doctor had to watch a KZfaq video in front of me to figure out how to stitch my tongue back together. They also charged me to remove the stitches that dissolved on their own. I think I'll just die instead. 😂

Not the wheelchair for a hangnail 😂😂😂

Don't be telling the chronic back pain to go to the Urgent Care. Let's not wish that one on anyone other than pain management.

Nice of you have insurance and can go to UC but now I’ve been so sick I had to go ER got breathing treatments right then

ER misdiagnosed two of my uncles who had back pain. They were both in pain from undiagnosed prostate cancer and are now dead. When my daughter cut open her head the urgent care wouldn’t take her. The ER did a horrible job at stitching her. I think that my old doctor’s office did better stitching in the past. When my C-section incision was opened in one area the ER didn’t want to touch me. I was stuck in limbo for hours until I had them call the lead OB. (Same hospital that i delivered). Miraculously, I healed well on my own. I have little faith in the ER. Urgent care has come a long way. I wish physicians would do more in their office like the olden days.

The problem is Urgent Care clinics require cash, credit or insurance. Many people don’t have the ability to pay, but ERs are required to provide care regardless of ability to pay.

I needed this!! I never knew what urgent care was until about 10 years ago. All my care was done at military hospitals and *if* they had an urgent care, you triaged in the same line as the ER and they decided which side got you and you found out when your name got called from the same waiting room. Went to a stand alone urgent care for the first time last month because the V.A. Triage Nurse Hotline told me which one to go to.

Hand lacerations are a judgment call. If it could involve muscle or tendons UC will send you to the ED.

That's funny, my back went out and when I went to UC I was told " what do you expect me to do about it? Go to the ER

Sorry, I'm not going to my urgent care again. They missed my broken femur after doing x-rays.

This would be great advice if there was a single urgent care facility where i live

Back pain...Urgent care...went there for my chronic migraines. was booked in with doctor next prescribed meds to prevent them next day reduced hugely. 18 year agony went away.

Many, many years ago I was in a pretty severe long boarding accident. To this day, about 15 years later, I still have no idea what happened. But when I was finally able to get ahold of my parents, I was in high school still, and they asked which I wanted to to. I choose UC.. they looked at me and offered to get an ambulance to take me to the hospital. Thanks to the shock I was in, not only did I save the white tank top I was wearing from blood, I saved money by having my dad take me instead.

So with my back pain when my disc blew into my spinal cord almost severed it (5th surgery) I should have just went to UC.. EVEN THOUGH I WAS PARALYZED..THANKS FOR THE MISS INFORMATION..THIS IS WHY IT SHOULD HAPPEN TO YOU..U WOULD FEEL DIFFERENT

This should be a tv commercial

For pregnancy we go straight to labor and delivery. I was pregnant had some pain and went to the emergency room ,told my IPs and my dr called me he sent a nurse down to get me ,he said always go up to labor and delivery.

I had a seizure like episode at work, lost consciousness, woke up delirious and confused, yelled at my boss without even knowing it, didn't know where I was. They called for an ambulance and I refused. They then called my sister to come get me and I get home and was fine. But yeah. I'm one of those crazy people.

Yes, please educate people!! The amount of "coughs" i get in the ER is embarrassing 😂

I have recurrent UTIs and I always go to urgent care if I’m feeling really sick …unless it turns into a kidney infection which it did twice. I went to the hospital because I didn’t want to take chances and needed fluids and stronger antibiotics

Maybe they need to show this to urgent care personnel management. Every time I've ever gone to an urgent care for something that urgent care could do, I always get turned away and told to go to the emergency room. Not a single soul in the waiting room or being seen at urgent care but a 6 and 1/2 hour wait at emergency. Not to mention, you call and ask if they do x-rays and they say yes, and you show up 30 minutes before close because that's what time it is, and then they suddenly don't do imaging anymore. Got to love the fact that health care in America is a business.

Where I live in Canada, it’s a phone in lotto system to try to get a UC appointment same day. You start calling when they open and IF you get through, you get an appointment. If not, you start calling again the next morning. They usually fill up in the first 15 minutes. Most people don’t have a family doctor (GP) either. So ER is the only place to go if you’re really concerned. Our health care system is a nightmare.

Chronic back pain should go to ER if it is accompanied by a fever or vomiting or severe headache. Sometimes what we think it is because its "normal" is wrong and sudden or different symptoms than we normally have should be addressed at the ER.

One time I went to urgent care in Orlando cause of my high blood pressure and they told me to go to the ER. I told them I just need some bp meds cause my appointment to my new PCP is next week in Jax and I wouldn't be able to drive 2hrs when my BP is in the 200s😅

Have worked both ER and UC and boy do people get this so wrong all the time!!! 🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️ I wish I could give this video a million thumbs 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

The answer for some of these is 'your primary care who actually knows you'.

Hang nail? Go home 🤣

Urgent care says go to PCP for chronic back pain. Also a hangnail you see a PCP and they refer you to podiatrist.

Chronic back pain could be more than a UC can't detect. Like a 5cm mass coming out of my lung and abstracting my T10. So!!! Glad I went to the ER instead.

I went to urgent care recently with a bad cough/ fever after seeing a similar video. The first thing they asked me was why didn’t you go to the er? The uc in the hospital I went to does not have the ability to take chest x rays.

As an RN, I greatly appreciate this message!!!! And don’t even work in the ER. But I can feel the pain!! This should be a series!

I went to the ER when I was at a 9 on my pain scale once. I was in so much pain that I could barely stand up to walk and I was in pain all over. We told the triage nurse and she gave a look of sympathy. I have fibromyalgia, migraines, and hypermobility syndrome, and when my mom told the nurse about my conditions, I saw a microexpression on her face like she was trying to hide something from me. I knew that expression. Now, I would call it contempt, like she didn’t believe me. I sat in that waiting room for 6 hours in excruciating pain while everyone else got rooms. I was the last person to be seen that night (and no, that is not an exaggeration). When I finally got a room, I screamed at the top of my lungs from the pain. My dad doesn't show his worried face a lot, but I saw it clearly on his face that night. I remember him asking where it hurt and I looked at him and said "everywhere." It was pain that cannot be described in words. One of the interns tried pushing Norflex and did so way too fast. I choked on it (it went through the IV port, up my arm, up my nose, and back up my throat). I never knew that this could happen until this day. This medicine caused horrible acid reflux. I had to ask for something for nausea and then a GI cocktail afterward. I never did figure out what caused my pain that night. The best I can guess is I was put on Lyrica along with my Cymbalta. Lyrica caused my allodynia to flare up, so I'm wondering if it caused this too.

I went to UC first to get fluids because I couldn't keep anything down and they turned me away saying they can't do that so I went to the hospital like 0.5 mile away and ended up getting admitted for 5 days for bacterial pneumonia (probably right after I had COVID but they didn't have a test yet). I like to think blessing in disguise. Scared me because they charged my insurance almost $20k in IV drugs alone because they didn't know what caused it.

Everyone's medical history is different. Do what's right for your own body. There's no one size fits all. Plus medical care staff quality may vary from one UC to another.

Thought they would throw them out for the hangnail😂

I've always heard that if you're going into labor and going to the ER, they wheel you right over to Labor and Delivery. Might make more sense to just head over there if you can, it will save you the ER wait times.

You forgot one. Man flu. Stay home and annoy the spouse.

This is actually really good. You should make more.

Yea right-bad cough UC! I had a bad cough and really sick one time and they told me to take cough syrup and go home after checking me. Turned out I had pneumonia and spent a few days in t he ICU Ward in Hospital!

Good job! I had a sudden allergic attack eating Kiwi. I went to the ER they saved me! ❤Horrible feeling!

Eh… Bad cough depends. Viral? Sure. Urgent care might be best depending on age and severity. Prexisting condition? (COPD, cystic fibrosis, pulmonary edema, cancers, etc.,) should be treated in the ER.

Man...snake bite...like Copperhead right? I pulled out various teeth from my hand when I accidentally punched my ball python, trying to adjust his F/T mouse. As luck would have it, he was striking the dead mouse as I was reaching in to adjusting it. Poor guy lost 4 teeth in my hand and would not eat for a month.

My cousin had back pain for a solid year. Went to the ER several times. No real help. Kept telling her it was a muscle problem. Turns out she had undiagnosed pancreatic cancer. Died in a month. So, just because your back hurts doesn't mean it's an Urgent Care issue like this video says. Know your body! Advocate for yourself.

As an former ED nurse, I approve this message

Video: "hangnail" Me: "home"

I love how you have to make these videos for people who don't understand.

Thank you! We need people to tell them the difference. Sheesh!

Unless that hangnail is seriously infected why go anywhere at all 😭

I work in healthcare and have seen people die because the wait was so long.. People with war aches, UTI, sore throat.. Minimal illnesses... It's sad...

Almost every urgent care in Albuquerque will send you to the ER for anything more than a light cough. And bill you anyway, its a racket.

Cool idea to let people know!

CVS and Walgreens have take care clinics too. Nurse practitioners available.

Mix them up next time! I'd like to guess as the examples pop up. Nice info!

The Chronic back pain can be one or the other. One day my grandmother just couldn't walk. We took her to the ER, and it was cancer. She was diagnosed and given less than a week to live and put on hospice. Urgent Care would NOT have been the solution. The same thing happened with my girlfriend. She had chronic pain in her arm, went to the emergency room and was given less than a month to live and put on hospice. Chronic pain _SHOULD_ go to the emergency room.

Wish we had urgent care in Canada. We just wait for hours in the emergency room

It took me a minute to see what was on the picture for the snake bite. I thought it was a kaleidoscope image 😅😅

We need more videos like this! Its a hard decision to make when you're panicking!

I had excruciating back pain, i couldnt stand up straight enough to walk, i went to UC and they sent me to the ER. If it happens again im going to the ER. UC isnt equipt to treat that type of pain

If the urgent care is open, I go. If it isn't, it's the ER. Unfortunately, that's how it goes.

lol people really need to know this! I use to go to the Emergency Room for a cold. I just didnt know 😂

Not so with the chronic back pain it took me three to four visits to er to finally get a ct come to find out stage 4 cancer my pain was bad they kept accusing me of just trying to get pain meds Yes I needed pain meds I had tumors on my spine the cancer had metastisized to my spine and hip bones they are Swiss cheese now Radiation and Ibrance and tons of prayer from family and friend and I’m doing mor well than I had thought I would be my doctor don’t know too much except I can’t lift anything over five pound I can break bones easily

The back pain could be kidneys or anything and the bad cough could be blood clot in the lungs or phenomena ! What in the world?

every time i'm having chest pain and see a medical professional they completely ignore the fact that i said i have chest pain 😂 if ur a woman it doesnt matter where u go or for what good luck being sent away to deal with it on ur own

What if its late at night with a minor laceration that needs stitches? Do you wait until the morning then go or go to ER?

The urgent care in my town is down the hall from the ER. 😂

URGENT CARE: Nausea Broken bones Flu symptoms (any sick symptoms) Minor car accident Work comp ER Anything involving pregnancy complications Blood in stool or vomit Chest pain Numbness in major areas of ur body Stroke symptoms Limbs or appendages cut/falling off Testicular pain (for children as any pain isn’t normal and could lead to removal)

Nicw work ladies.

As an urgent care nurse, we don’t like triaging and telling patients they need to go to the ER, only for the patient to refuse because they can’t afford the cost.

I disagree with going to UC for a bad cough. A severe cough can be a sign of very serious/life threatening issues like a pulmonary embolism or pneumonia…

Imagine someone going into labor heading to an urgent care 😮

I guessed them all, and got them right… 10/10 for me.