Urgent Care, E-R, primary care - Which is right?

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- If you're not feeling well or have an accident, it can be hard to know where to go to help - urgent care, the emergency department, or wait for your doctor?

A Temple Health ReadyCare doctor offers expert advice on sorting out those choices.

You wake up on a Saturday feeling terrible.

Was it something you ate? The stomach bug going around the office? Or something more serious? And where should you go for treatment?

Dr. Lisa Maguire, a family medicine doctor at Temple ReadyCare centers, hears that question often.

"They're not sure exactly whether their chief complaint is appropriate for primary care, for urgent care, or for the emergency room," says Dr. Maguire.

She says urgent care can handle most non-life-threatening illnesses and injuries.

"What we commonly treat would be upper respiratory tract infections - flu, UTIs, STI exposure, musculoskeletal injuries," she explains. "Managing sprains, strains, broken bones."

Often, urgent care is useful for an initial evaluation.

"Answer any questions and give them some guidance on what the next steps may be," Dr. Maguire notes.

She says someone should head directly to the ER if there is chest pain, uncontrolled bleeding, sudden or severe pain, coughing or vomiting blood, difficulty breathing, dizziness, or loss of consciousness.

An ER might also be best if there's a history of heart, lung, or nervous system disease.

For flare-ups of less serious chronic ailments, an urgent care might focus on making a person comfortable util their primary care doctor can see them.

She says urgent care centers have x-ray and lab capabilities, but lack many diagnostic tools that are in an emergency department.

"Sometimes people do overestimate what we're capable of doing," Dr. Maguire says.

Urgent care can also be a good alternative to primary care for sports and camp physicals, and routine immunizations.