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 What is an Emergency? An emergency is generally an injury or condition of acute or sudden onset. This in particular refers to bleeding, severe or increasing pain or a change in the vital signs of life like the level of consciousness or difficulty in breathing. A condition that a patient is suffering for a long time or is currently on treatment may take a sudden turn for the worse; this is also an emergency.
Medical emergencies include:
Trauma
- All mass casualty patients
- Foreign bodies (e.g. Fishbone in throat)
- Fractures
- Large Wounds
- Deep cuts or wounds with profuse bleeding
- Burns and scalds especially those bigger than the palm of the hand, or located over the face, hands, feet or groin
- Severe sprains
- Joint Dislocations
- Insect stings
- Snake and animal bites
- Multiple injuries
- Suicides
- Poisoning
- Lacerations
- Head injuries, especially those followed by drowsiness, vomiting, bleeding from ear, nose or mouth, or unusual behaviour
Non Trauma
- Acute exacerbation of a chronic illness
- Acute complication of treated condition
- Acute appendicitis
- Acute myocardial infarction (Heart attack)
- Renal colic (Urinary stones)
- Severe abdominal pain
- Gross haematuria (Blood in the urine)
- Haematemesis (Blood in vomitus)
- Melaena (Passage of black tar like stools)
- Acute gastroenteritis (e.g. Food poisoning)
- Abscess
- Severe pain or increasing pain
- Severe vomiting
- High fever
- Chest pain
- Acute severe backache
- Urticaria and severe allergy (e.g. Hives)
- Acute strokes with one-sided facial weakness, limb weakness or speech abnormalities
- Premature labour pains
What is a Non-Emergency?
A Non-Emergency is generally an old injury or condition, which has been present for a long time. The patient does not require immediate treatment and there is no immediate threat to patient's life or limb.
Medical Non-Emergencies include:
Trauma
- Old scars
- Deformities of bones, limbs or spine
- Joint contractures
- Old fractures
- Old unreduced dislocations
- Chronic discharging wounds
- Chronic sprains
- Minor cuts and bruises
- Slight burns and scalds
Non Trauma
- Cerebral palsy, spastics
- Cervical spondylosis
- Post polio
- Old hemiplegias, old strokes
- Old paraplegia
- Osteoarthritis knees not acutely worse
Defined Conditions
- Chronic vague symptoms like tiredness, dyspepsia not acutely worse
- Upper respiratory infections without fever
- Chronic cough
- Social problem-requests admission (e.g. unable to cope with nursing at home)
- Psychosomatic problems with no acute presentations
- Chronic headaches on and off not getting worse acutely
- Insomnia
Chronic Aches
- Chronic whole body ache
- Chronic backache not getting worse
- Chronic leg pain, foot pain
- Long term neck ache
- Numbness of body for month
Alimentary System
- Mild vomiting and diarrhoea with absence of constitutional symptoms
- Constipation - chronic
- Loss of appetite, loss of weight
- Dieting
- Unobstructed painless intestinal hernia
- Chronic liver cirrhosis with no worse adverse sequelae
- Slight abdominal pain with normal vital signs and absence of sweatiness or breathlessness or peritoneal irritation
Non-urgent Obstetrics and Gynaecological cases
- Irregular menses, vaginal discharge - chronic in nature
Non-urgent ENT Conditions
- Chronic rhinitis
- Defective hearing
- Nasal polyp
- Wax in ears
Others
- Toothaches that are not associated with swelling of the face and jaw with sweatiness or breathlessness
- Alcoholics (Police Cases) with normal mental state
- Drunk driving cases with normal mental state
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