Emergency medical condition - Glossary (2024)

FAQs

What qualifies as an emergency medical condition? ›

An illness, injury, symptom or condition so serious that a reasonable person would seek care right away to avoid severe harm.

Overview of emergencies

If a person is experiencing an altered mental state, has trouble breathing, has uncontrollable bleeding, or has experienced trauma, get them to an emergency care facility as soon as possible. Medical emergencies need to be addressed by a trained medical professional right away.

Emergent care is medical care that directly addresses threats to life, limb, or eyesight.

​Situations that warrant care for illness or injury, but not emergency care: Minor burns. Earache or ear infection. Pink eye.

Patients with non-urgent problems may be referred to the Family Health clinic or Pediatric Clinic for evaluation and treatment. Examples of a non-emergency include: sprained knee, ankle, arm, minor headache, pulled muscle, controlled nose bleed and small cuts.

Five emergency situations include chest pain, choking, stroke, heavy bleeding and severe head injury.

This can range from emergencies affecting a single person, such as the entire range of medical emergencies including heart attacks, strokes, cardiac arrest and trauma, to incidents that affect large numbers of people such as natural disasters including tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, mudslides and outbreaks ...

What is the most common medical emergency? ›

Though you can't prepare for every emergency, here are five common emergencies you can be ready to address. The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) says the most common emergencies at medical practices are: asthma attacks, seizures, anaphylaxis, cardiac arrest, and hypoglycemia.

Most common ER diagnoses in the U.S. in 2022

In 2022, the most common emergency room (ER) diagnosis was essential (primary) hypertension, which accounted for 3 percent of all ER diagnoses in the U.S. Contact with and (suspected) exposure to COVID-19 was the second most common diagnosis given out in ERs.

For the purpose of this article, we'll consider urgent as a patient who should be seen within 24 to 48 hours and emergent as a patient who should be seen immediately in the office or referred to the nearest emergency eye care facility.

There are a few key differences between urgent care and the emergency room (ER). Urgent care is for injuries or illnesses that are not life-threatening. The emergency room, on the other hand, is for serious issues that may be considered a medical emergency.

'Emergent' properly means 'emerging' and normally refers to events that are just beginning—barely noticeable rather than catastrophic. 'Emergency' is an adjective as well as a noun, so rather than writing 'emergent care,' use the homely 'emergency care.

Call for help immediately—minutes and seconds count. Bring help to the victim—don't move the victim unless he or she is in danger. Check for breathing and a pulse. Do no further harm—make sure you don't cause additional injuries to the victim.

If your concern is not immediately life-threatening, it is likely safe to categorize it as a non-emergency. In these cases, you should not use an emergency system, as it creates additional backlog that can shut out people with more serious concerns. Trust yourself to know if something is immediately life threatening.

Medical condition means an irregularity in the health of an Insured Person which required or requires medical advice, consultation, investigation, Treatment, care, service or diagnosis by a Physician.