You’re hurt in a car accident, but everyone is telling you to avoid hospitals and urgent care centers right now. What are you supposed to do? The short answer is to contact emergency services and gain advice from a medical professional or a dispatcher with 911 who’s been trained to help people evaluate the extent of their injuries.
People are reporting all across the country how often they’re being turned away from hospitals, urgent care centers, and even from standard doctor’s appointments. The medical professionals are attempting to divert every possible issue not related to COVID or serious medical emergencies, and what’s happening is a lot of people are not getting the medical assistance that they need.
Call Your Local Hospital or Nurse Advice Line
Distance-based medical care is taking off, and often medical networks or insurance providers will have a nurse advice line. Nurses are much more qualified to give medical advice than most people realize. They go through extensive medical training, including training and diagnosis, an assessment of injuries and illness. When on a nurse advice line call, make sure you explain Everything you can relating to your injury as clearly as possible. If you are feeling any particular sensation, then convey that there is nothing too small to mention on an advice line call.
These nurses will often give you one of four final answers. They may advise you to seek immediate medical attention by going to the nearest emergency room. They may also tell you to go to an urgent care center during open hours, although many advice lines are moving away from this recommendation because of how many are going to urgent care centers for COVID related issues. It’s been a well-known problem that in the last five to 10 years, urgent care centers are often overrun, and you may spend hours waiting for medical assistance that you could have gotten more quickly if you had made an appointment with your doctor.
The third option that you would likely get from a nurse advice line is to schedule an appointment with your primary physician. They may even be able to do this with you on the phone during the same call. Making an appointment with your physician can ensure that there are social distance measures in place and that you get medical assistance within a reasonable time after your injury.
Finally, the nurse advice line may advise you that there’s no reason to seek medical attention. There are many injuries that seem very serious at the moment, but medical professionals can’t do anything to help. Injuries that involve broken ribs and toes often don’t call for anything more than rest and careful treatment of afflicted body parts. Additionally, sprains and soft tissue damage often only require rest, and medical professionals are urging people to rest at home without getting medical attention first.
Take Precautions After Getting Medical Assistance
If you did need to get medical attention at an emergency room, urgent care, or even your doctor’s office, you might want to take extra precautions in the upcoming days. You may need to inform your employer that you’ve gone to a medical center and possibly been exposed to the coronavirus. Additionally, you may want to distance yourself from essential workers in your household to ensure that there’s not the possibility of them spreading it when they go to work.
Whenever in doubt, precautions are always the best approach. Going to a medical center does not inherently mean that you’ve come into contact with the coronavirus or that you’re at a higher risk of contracting the illness. But simple precautions can go a long way in the event that you may have come across it.
Medical Claims With a Personal Injury Attorney
Personal injuries are still happening even with the coronavirus pandemic in its second swing. People have pools that result in injuries, slips, and falls result in injuries, and everyday items around the house can lead to serious injury. If you ever have a question about whether you need medical assistance or not call either emergency services or if the injury does not seem severe, contact your medical network’s advice line.
If someone was ultimately responsible for your injury, then you might need to seek legal compensation and prove the extent of damage associated with the injury. At Christian Morris Trial Attorneys, you can work with a Henderson personal injury attorney to seek compensation for your medical bills and other damages you experienced because of the injury.
