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Patience urged in emergency room

Minor illnesses could be treated elsewhere

The principle of first-come, first-served may apply at the supermarket checkout line, but not at the local hospital emergency room.

There, the sickest people and the people with the most severe injuries are treated first. Those with more minor problems may have to wait, perhaps for a long time.

That’s a point the nursing staff at UnityPoint Health — Trinity Regional Medical Center is stressing as the hospital’s emergency department deals with an increase in patients.

All patients who come to the emergency department will be seen and treated, according to Kari Jones, the hospital’s chief nurse executive.

“We will never, ever turn anyone away,” she said.

But she added that people with minor illnesses or injuries may get treated faster at the UnityPoint Health – Clinic Express or their doctor’s office.

Jones said the emergency department staff is seeing 10 to 20 percent more patients than usual and a lot of those patients are sicker than what would be expected.

She said the emergency department’s patient volume has typically been 50 to 60 patients a day, but is now surging as high as 90 a day.

There doesn’t appear to be one cause driving the increase in patients. Jones said the emergency department is not seeing high numbers of COVID patients. She said there was a surge in influenza patients, but that number has come down recently.

With a larger number of patients coming into the emergency room and those with the worst conditions getting priority, those with less severe problems will be waiting to be treated.

Because many primary care providers offer same day appointments, it is possible that someone with a fever could go to their doctor’s office, be examined, get any necessary prescriptions and be back home in the time that would have been spent waiting in the emergency department.

Where should you go for care?

Go to the emergency department for:

Chest pain

Severe bleeding

Loss of consciousness

Broken bones

Head or eye injuries

Severe stomach pain

Large open wounds

Serious burns

Seizures

Numbness in face, arm or leg

Sudden feeling of being dizzy or weak

Go to your primary care provider or UnityPoint Clinic Express for:

Colds

Fevers

Earaches

Minor cuts

Coughing

Sore throat

Minor burns

Infections

Flu-like symptoms

Sprains

Runny nose

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