Kansas City Emergency Rooms and Urgent Care

Urgent Care or ER: When to Head to the Closest Emergency Room
When emergency strikes, it can leave you feeling shaky and uncertain. You may wonder if you need emergency care or not. When your health hangs in the balance, it’s best to trust your instincts.

If you experience or recognize any symptoms of a medical emergency, such as difficulty breathing, intense pain, broken bones, coughing blood, or chest pain, don't hesitate. Call 911 right away to be taken to the nearest emergency room. Common emergency situations may include (but are not limited to):

• Complicated Fractures
• Deep Wounds
• Extreme Difficulty Breathing
• Major Head Injury
• Poisoning
• Severe Allergic Reactions
• Severe Burns
• Suspected Heart Attack
• Suspected Stroke
• Vomiting or Coughing Up Blood

What to Expect When You Visit the ER

A medical emergency can leave you with a lot of questions. Since understanding your condition and feeling confident in your care is the first step toward healing, we’ll take as long as you need to address your concerns. We’ll have a few questions of our own, too. To start off, we’ll ask for basic information like your medical history and the reason for your visit. When we have this information and after we’ve taken your vital signs, we’ll decide on the best way to care for you.

At AdventHealth, formerly Shawnee Mission Health, we use a process known as triage to help prioritize care for our patients. This may mean that a later-arriving patient suffering from a stroke or heart attack is treated before someone in less critical condition. Whatever your condition, we always strive to keep emergency room wait times as short as possible, so you can get the care you need. To help you prepare for a medical emergency, you may want to consider keeping an information card in your purse or wallet. The card should include things like:

• Advance Directives (Like Power of Attorney and Health Care Proxy)
• A List of Your Medications and Drug Allergies
• The Name and Number of Your Primary Care Doctor

When we know all the facts, we can deliver safer, faster care.

Hopefully, your trip to the emergency room will be the only medical attention you'll need for a while. If your injury or condition requires further treatment, however, our care navigators will help connect you with follow-up care wherever you live. As part of our mission to provide whole-person care, we're here to not only heal your body. We want to help ease your mind and minister to your spirit, as well.