Doctor’s offices operate on normal business hours, but our health concerns don’t always come up at convenient times. After Hours Nurse Lines, Urgent Care facilities, and Emergency Rooms all help treat patients and alleviate healthcare concerns during evenings and weekends. What many people don’t know is that each of those options have a specific purpose, and using Emergency Rooms for non-emergency services can put others’ lives at risk.
After Hours Nurse Line: Use to answer questions about a health concern, or to evaluate if a medical situation is an emergency.
Urgent Care: Use for issues you’d bring up to a normal, non-emergency doctor during evenings and weekends. Urgent care facilities can be expensive – so we recommend calling the hotline before making a visit to an Urgent Care center.
Emergency Room: Used for life-threatening emergencies only. Non-emergency visits limit ER doctors’ ability to treat life-threatening situations. Non-emergencies include anything that can wait until the morning, is not life-threatening, or is something you’d visit your normal doctor for.
The basic rule to go by is this: if it can wait until morning, or it’s not life-threatening, it’s not an emergency and shouldn’t be handled by a trip to the ER.
However, just because it’s not an emergency doesn’t mean you can’t get help. Calling an After Hours Nurse Line, such as ours (574.350.2299) gives you access to medical advice that can put you at ease overnight.
We understand that when someone is in pain, it’s hard to tell if they’re in need of emergency services. The After Hours Nurse Line is a great way to get questions answered about your health or a loved one’s health that come up after normal office hours.
1. Your call will be answered by a clinical receptionist.
2. If you have an immediate clinical question, you will speak with our after hours nurse.
3. If your question requires one of our providers to call you, they will immediately be sent your request for them to call you back.
If you are facing an emergency, the medical professional will provide guidance for what to do, such as visiting the ER or calling 9-1-1.