5 Ways to Avoid A Trip To The ER
Photo Courtesy of Jeremy J. Corbett, MD
By Jeremy J. Corbett, MD, Special to Everyday Health
As an emergency room physician, I see plenty of high fevers, open wounds, cases of appendicitis, broken bones, and allergic reactions. But sadly, the majority of cases I see in the ER are due to common, avoidable problems that could have easily been prevented.
Here are five things you can do to lower your risk of ending up in the ER:
1. Don’t Abuse Alcohol or Substances
A teenage gunshot victim was once brought into my emergency room. While intoxicated, he entered the wrong home; the homeowner fired, thinking the teen meant to harm him. The gunshot wound was nearly fatal.
A few days later, I took care of an inebriated college student who dislocated his shoulder trying to steal a life-sized Will Ferrell cutout from a movie theater! Really!?
Unfortunately, I see cases like this on a weekly basis, some more severe than others. In fact, alcohol- or substance-related motor vehicle collisions, falls, gunshot wounds, and other accidents resulting from impaired judgment are among the most common injuries I treat.
Related: An Emergency Room, But Not for Everyone
2. Don’t Smoke
An active 50-year-old attorney and marathon runner came in to the ER with chest pain. Aside from being a smoker, he didn’t have any other health risks. He certainly never imagined he’d have a heart attack and require a procedure to clear his blocked arteries. Years of smoking had finally caught up with him, as it does with most smokers. The fact that tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States cannot be repeated enough.
Related: Smoking: The Million-Dollar Habit
3. Watch Your Weight
I recently saw a 60-year-old retired engineer in the ER. His wife was concerned that he had started drinking gallons of milk daily to satisfy his unquenchable thirst. In the two years since he had retired, he had become sedentary, and without any active hobbies, he had gained a great deal of weight. His thirst was a telltale sign of new onset diabetes.
If more people adopted healthier lifestyle behaviors — increasing physical activity, eating a healthy diet, limiting tobacco and alcohol use, and decreasing body fat — it would greatly decrease emergency department wait times. Hypertension, heart disease, arthritis, and joint pain resulting from type 2 diabetes and obesity are just some of the serious medical conditions that are mostly preventable.
Related: Can Facebook Help You Lose Weight?
4. Take Your Medications
A woman once came into the emergency room unable to swallow and had weakness on her left side. Her symptoms were the result of a stroke due to hypertension. Although her doctor had recently prescribed a new blood pressure medication, she didn’t fill the new prescription because she didn’t understand why she needed it. She thought that her current medication was working fine. Her doctor didn’t have time to explain why he made the change, and she was reluctant to press him.
It’s important to understand not only which medications you’re taking, but also why you are taking them. If you don’t understand, ask your doctor to explain. Failing to understand or follow doctors’ orders can have very serious consequences — including a trip to the ER.
Related: 6 Simple Ways to Save At Least 25 Percent on Prescription Medications
5. See Your Own Doctor
An apparently healthy man with access to good primary care waited several hours in the ER to see me. His prescription for a daily medication was about to run out, but his doctor was booked for the next few weeks and he couldn’t get in to see him.
The ER is often the only choice for people who have no access to primary care, but it should not be the default option for those who do. Many physicians schedule drop-in time slots, or can handle prescription requests by phone. Urgent-care centers and retail clinics can also be good after-hours alternatives. A little advance planning will go a long way in preserving the emergency room for true emergencies.
Jeremy J. Corbett, MD, is chief health officer of Nurtur, which focuses on prevention, behavior change, healthy lifestyle, clinical innovation strategies, and improving health outcomes. He practices as an emergency room physician in Lexington, Kentucky, where he lives with his wife and three children.
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This article originally appeared on EverydayHealth.com: 5 Ways to Avoid a Trip to the ER
