How to Get Emergency Medical Care

Overview

Emergency care facilities are stocked with the tools needed to treat most situations, ranging from accidental injuries to heart attacks and strokes. Health care providers trained in triage and onsite emergency treatment procedures staff such emergency medical services. In emergency situations, you can and should take advantage of such facilities and personnel.

Step 1

Call 911 if you need assistance where you are located. The 911 operators in most all municipalities have direct access to emergency medical services (EMS) personnel who are on duty waiting to respond to calls. They come to your location in an ambulance stocked with all the medical equipment to stabilize you and transport you to the hospital for further assistance.

Step 2

Allow the paramedics to treat you at your location. Paramedics ride on emergency vehicles and have advanced training to treat a variety of problems onsite. While they most often will transport you to the hospital, they can complete some treatments at location.

Step 3

Let someone drive you to the nearest emergency room if you have symptoms that warrant emergency care. The American College of Emergency Physicians recommends going to the emergency room if you have chest pains, difficulty breathing or blurred vision. Confusion and changes in mental condition or any sudden severe pain should be treated as an emergency. People who are vomiting blood, having difficulty speaking or talking about thoughts of suicide should be immediately driven to an emergency room for evaluation.

Step 4

Explain specifically what symptoms you are experiencing when you arrive at the hospital. Patients usually are seen in order of severity of their symptoms and needs. Let the admitting personnel know if you are having chest pains or if your condition changes while you are waiting to be seen by a doctor.

Step 5

Bring your insurance cards with you as well as a list of the medications you are taking. Bring the bottles of medications with you if necessary. Knowing what pills you are taking is a vitally important aspect of emergency treatment, and your treatment could be put on hold while doctors try to find out the correct information regarding your condition and treatment.