The flu is not a medical emergency- in the eyes of an ER. What determines the emergency is the symptoms you are experiencing when you are in triage or just happened based on a quick assessment by qualified staff (nurse, PA, MD). You may have the flu-but you may have the following that is determining the emergency:
No heart beat, No breathing, Too Rapid or Too Slow Heart Rate, Little breathing or too fast, Unresponsive patient= IMMEDIATE CARE= Emergency
Chest Pain- will usually get you in the back quickly--if you are having active symptoms-crushing chest pain, neck/jaw pain, abnormal EKG done in triage, abnormal stat labwork done in triage.
Neuro- Fall with loss of consciousness, slurred speech (without drinking ETOH), head injury, open wound on head, change in mental status.
Your cough for 3 days, your dental pain for a week, arm pain, leg pain, swelling of any body part other than tongue/face/throat, rash, throat pain, groin pain, toe pain, knee pain-any other pain than chest pain really, spots in vision that has resolved but you want checked, back spasms, abdominal pain are all patients who will have to be worked up (labs, iv line, ekg sometimes, ultrasound, ct scans...will be waiting in ER waiting room and waiting in ER room once they make it back there for several hours) or rather quick depending on who else is in the ER being seen and how busy that particular ER is when you arrive.
Please remember- you may wait hours in any ER and you have NO IDEA what has come in that is a true emergency that bumps your chart back again. Please be patient with the staff, they don't want you waiting in pain or uncomfortable just because we want too-it is because we need to take care of the critical patients first. Find urgent care if you can and you feel it is not an emergency. If they are closed and you can wait until the am then wait until they open. If you can't wait---then please go to an ER and be seen. Any ER will assist you in the order of your critical/non critical assessment at the time you arrive in the ER. Never pass up coming to an ER because they are busy--if you thought you needed emergent care--please wait to be seen, it could be life threatening.
Please dont' call EMS to come just thinking you will be seen faster. You are triaged at the door and if not critical- you will be sent to lobby to wait in line with the people who have been there already waiting. (Yes, people call EMS for a dental problem and are sent to the waiting room).
Also- please don't come in and tell a nurse/md "I am not going to stay the night". If the doctor feels like you need to stay- he/she writes admission orders and you will have to sign out Against Medical Advise and some insurances won't pay for your visit. Please don't have us do all the lab work/testing and then say we are taking too long and leave--you will NOT get your results without going through medical records--which rumor has is a pain!
Most of all--seek help as quick as you can--don't wait 3 days with chest pain or difficulty breathing. Don't be afraid to at least get checked out...Nurses and Doctors want to help you and make you better!
This is all just IMHO of how an ER runs in most hospitals....