No Stupid Questions

It comes down to what's open, how dangerous the condition is, and who was outfitted to do what.

If you're having legitimate trouble breathing like you are filling your lungs and it's not enough, or you can't get enough air in your lungs for any reason, straight to the ER.

Unknown irregular heartbeat or chest pain that doesn't go away with antacid, go to the ER.

Urgent cares near me generally have x-ray equipment. They're capable of a few stitches, they can handle prescriptions for emergent illness. If you walk in there with a f'dup heart rhythm or breathing problems they're going to call you an ambulance.

Scheduling something with your primary care is for all your other long-term needs. Preventative maintenance, blood tests, they can probably do an EKG and they should be the ones managing your long-term medications.

If you have something that feels urgent and the urgent care isn't open the ER is always an option.

This is why healthcare in the US sucks.

• A wealthy person will have a 24-hour hotline to connect with a nurse or doctor (immediately or through return call) with access to their medical history who will help them figure out what to do.
• A moderately well-off person will have a web/phone interface where they can send a message and someone will return their message in a day or two.
• Everyone else has to make a gamble: do I spent money to try to figure this out? Do I risk spending money and then it turns out to be nothing? But what if it's something and it's more expensive later on? What will my insurance pay for? How do I find someone that's reliable, but also inexpensive? All of this causes stress which makes things worse.

In your case, think of anyone who knows your medical history and who you can ask questions of. The doctor who prescribed your anxiety medications - can you call/message them and ask them? The pharmacist who dispenses the meds - can you go/call and ask a question about your medications? Some pharmacies also have nurse / clinic stations, too. If you have any kind of medical insurance, check out their web page - a lot of them have set up tele-medicine offerings recently. If your job has an HR department, this is actually one case they can be helpful; an HR person in my company helped me figure out what health resources I had access to, based on my plan. Finally, if you haven't been getting annual checkups, you should start thinking of doing so (especially as you get older), and ask them how you can contact them to ask questions like this.

Good luck fam, I hope it turns out OK for you.

Clinics are when you can call ahead to make sure they can handle your issue that can't wait for a GP appointment. Your burning genitals or deep cut will be seen at their earliest convenience. They can be used for GP services if you do not have a regular care provider.

Hospitals are for when you were referred there, have an on-going issue, or no clinics are open. You are not in urgent need of medical intervention, or are man enough to die in the waiting room with your 104° fever and almond smelling cut you got from a fence two weeks ago that has dark veins radiating from it because "it's nothing, just a cut". You can use them for typical GP services if you don't have a regular care provider and many offer clinic services.

GPs are for regular checkups or visits for something you are concerned about.

ER is for when dispatch calls ahead for you, severe pain, severe injury, unconsciousness, or OD. Expect to wait for hours if you are conscious and not leaking, because others are and you aren't the main character today.

If you have insurance, they typically have a hotline you can ask about stuff like this.

Depending what county you live in, etc. There are nurse hotlines that you can call. That said I've never used them.

Here in BC you can call 811 to talk to a nurse and get advice on things like this, maybe your state has something similar?

If you can drive, drive to the hospital. Ask the person at the front desk what they would recommend. If they recommend the ER, then at least you didnt have to make that decision. That being said, I do not nor have I ever worked for a hospital, but ive been a patient quite a bit.

You got the right idea. Heart problems are a bit of a mystery until you can get an EKG done. Urgent cares aren't usually equipped to do more that that. If it's ongoing, maybe look for a cardiologist. But if you're having any sudden shortness of breath then you might need to head to the ER.

If it's bugging you not knowing and you don't want to wait until your clinic appt, then yes, urgent care would be able to at least tell you if it's an emergency cardiac event and send you on to the ER, or if it's something like afib and it can wait to follow up with an office visit.