Urgent Care Clinic or Emergency Room? Fever
Fever is basically brought about by an increase in the core body temperature of your body. As is explained by the subject matter experts over at frontlineer.com, the normal body temperature is about 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit which means that fever is when the temperature spikes above that, with a reading of 102 degrees Fahrenheit and above being indicative of high fever. Fever is quite common and chances are that we have experienced it at one stage of or the other. In most cases fever is usually not that serious and can be treated at home with home remedies such as rest, taking in lots of fluid and taking over-the-counter medications that help manage it. There are also some myths surrounding fever that are quite untrue and just alarmist in nature, key of them being that fever could cook one’s brain. However, while these myths are untrue, there is no denying that there are instances when a fever may be a sign from your body that you may have a much more serious in your hands and as such immediate medical attention is required. This can either be in an urgent care clinic or, in cases of medical emergencies, an emergency room, with this article looking to highlight which cases should be treated at the former and which should lead to a visit to the latter.
We will first take a look at cases that should be handled at an urgent care clinic as far as fever is concerned, with frontlineer.com being the best place to visit for the same. If you have a fever and you have an earache, this could be a sign that you have an ear infection. This is something that can be diagnosed and treated at an urgent care clinic by prescription of antibiotics. If the fever is accompanied by symptoms that are not that severe such as mild diarrhea and vomiting, nausea, cough and sore throat, you can head over to an urgent care clinic to be attended to as this may be a sign that you may be suffering from a cold or flu. If you also experience a fever that doesn’t break on its own or seems to worsen in time, you can also head over to an urgent care clinic where you will be attended to. Fever are also quite common as far as children are concerned and as such if your child has a fever and is fussy and appears uncomfortable, you should take them to an urgent care clinic. Children that are below the age of two should be taken to an urgent care clinic if they have a fever that persists for more than 24 hours, while those older than two should be taken to an urgent care clinic if they have a fever for more than 2 days.
As far as fever and emergency rooms visit, a fever of over 104 degrees Fahrenheit should have you heading over to an ER as soon as possible as, though it won’t ‘cook your brain’, it can injure your body. A fever accompanied by breathing problems as well as shortness of breath should also be treated at an emergency room as per the experts over at frontlineer.com. The same applies to cases where you have a fever and you have a cut or break in your skin from which a thick green, yellow or white discharge is coming from. This is a sign of infection and should be treated as soon as possible before sepsis sets in, something that can be life-threatening. If your child spikes a fever and hasn’t been immunized, then they should be taken to an emergency room as soon as possible, with the same applying to cases where the child develops an unknown rash, are inconsolable, are not urinating and if they do, they pass out urine that burns them, have a stiff neck or have stomach pain. Abdominal pain and headaches accompanying fever in adults should also be taken seriously. If you develop a fever and have had recent chemotherapy or have a compromised immune system, then you also should head over to an emergency room.
Emergency rooms are preferred to urgent care clinics when it comes to serious cases involving fever as they have the facilities to carry out comprehensive testing for diagnosis as well as treatment of some of the serious conditions causing the fever. As per the subject matter experts over at frontlineer.com, when it comes to diagnosis, ERs have facilities to carry out blood work and body cell cultures that will come in handy if the reason behind the fever is an infection, as well as different kinds of imaging testing that will help if the fever is due to certain conditions such as cancer, blood clots and stroke as well as inflammatory diseases. This facilities and capabilities are not available in an urgent care clinic. Emergency rooms, unlike urgent care clinics, have facilities to administer IVs which may be required in treatment when administering antibiotics or when dealing with dehydration.
Hopefully, this article will come in handy when deciding which cases to take to an urgent care clinic and which to take to an emergency room as far as fever is concerned, with more information on the same and other related topics to be found over at the ever reliable frontlineer.com.
