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Not always sure when it’s an emergency?

Here are 5 easy to remember symptoms that always necessitate emergency care.

Head to the ER stat (or dial 911) if you have any of these:

A – Airway
Choking (also do the Heimlich maneuver or CPR if needed)

B – Breathing
Rapid or slowed intake of air, wheezing, skin has a blue tinge

C – Circulation
Loss of consciousness, bleeding, agitation, lifelessness

D – Disability or dehydration
Injury or inability to walk or talk, inability to keep down food or liquids

E – Exposure to an environmental hazard
Various (causes can include heat exhaustion, hypothermia or poisoning)

Seeking primary dental care in the ER is a new phenomenon facing medicine today.

Lack of access in rural areas, and little or no emphasis on preventive care have contributed to a gross misuse of medical resources.

Too few dentist participating in Medicaid has also contributed to the problem.

Using emergency rooms for dental treatment “is incredibly expensive and incredibly inefficient,” said Dr. Frank Catalanotto, a professor at the University of Florida’s College of Dentistry who reviewed the report.
Preventive dental care such as routine teeth cleaning can cost $50 to $100, versus $1,000 for emergency room treatment that may include painkillers for aching cavities and antibiotics from resulting infections, Catalanotto said.

Hospital emergency rooms serving the poor are closing at alarming rates.

As the need for emergency care has increased hospitals have been met with longer wait times and less effective care.

As eligability for Medicaid increases with the new health care law, more recipients will turn to emergency rooms as their primary care option as many physicians do not take Medicaid payments.

Urban and suburban areas have lost a quarter of their hospital emergency departments over the last 20 years, according to the study, in The Journal of the American Medical Association. In 1990, there were 2,446 hospitals with emergency departments in nonrural areas. That number dropped to 1,779 in 2009, even as the total number of emergency room visits nationwide increased by roughly 35 percent.

Emergency departments were most likely to have closed if they served large numbers of the poor, were at commercially operated hospitals, were in hospitals with skimpy profit margins or operated in highly competitive markets, the researchers found.