Emergency care
Emergency care is the treatment of unexpected, severe medical injuries or infections. It is typically delivered in an emergency room or an ambulance. Our emergency medicine physicians stabilize your condition as quickly as possible to prepare you for the next step of care or discharge.
Emergency room (ER) in Okeechobee, Florida
When you experience a medical emergency, you want to be sure you are getting the best care as quickly as possible. That's where we come in.
At HCA Florida Raulerson Hospital, our emergency care team is standing by 24/7 to offer the lifesaving care you need — when you need it most. Our physicians are specially trained in emergency medicine to ensure we can quickly diagnose your condition and offer effective treatment.
Our emergency care services
To ensure you get the best possible emergency care, we are proud to offer:
- A complete range of emergency medicine services for children and adults
- Diagnostic imaging services, including computerized tomography (CT) and ultrasound
- Full-service laboratory
- Minimal wait times
- Mobile device charging stations and free Wi-Fi
InformER
When you or a loved one is receiving emergency care, instant and accurate communication is key to help you stay informed and make any important health decisions. This is why we have implemented our InformER system.
InformER is a text messaging service that provides emergency room status updates to selected family members and friends. First, you register to receive status updates on your phone. Then, you can forward the registration code to your loved ones allowing them to also register and receive your updates. (Up to five members can be added.)
Text "informER12" to 32222 to sign up.
Pediatric emergency care
With physicians who specialize in pediatric advanced life support, our pediatric emergency room offers the high-quality and compassionate care your child needs.
You can trust that your little one will be treated in a comforting and welcoming environment, equipped with pediatric instruments for children of all ages.
Additionally, our pediatric emergency care team understands you play an important role in your child's health and well-being. Because of this, we will communicate with you and your family every step of the way about your child's care. This is so you can make the best decisions for the health of your child.
Our emergency room wait times
When it comes to emergency care, our goal is to continually work toward enhancing the care you receive, while reducing our wait times. This ensures you get the care you need when you need it most.
Our wait times are updated every 30 minutes and are available on our website.
To find out the wait times of the HCA Florida emergency room nearest to you, check the top of our website or text "ER" to 32222.
Note: Message and data rates may apply. Emergency room wait times are approximate and provided for informational purposes only.
When to go to the emergency room
Knowing when to seek emergency care for yourself or a loved one is essential.
We understand it can be hard to know what type of medical care you need, like whether you should go to the emergency room or wait for your doctor's office to open.
However, we want you to feel secure about your choice for care, which is why we've created a list of symptoms that may indicate you need to visit the emergency room:
- Back pain, when it is unbearable or accompanied by fever, numbness, weakness, confusion, slurred speech, vision loss or loss of control over bladder or bowels
- Broken bones, when the pain is severe or there is a visible deformity
- Chest pain, when it is crushing or squeezing and accompanied by other heart attack symptoms, such as shortness of breath or nausea
- Concussion, when you have lost consciousness, even briefly, or experience amnesia, vomiting, slurred speech or a seizure
- Flu, when symptoms become severe, such as having trouble breathing, vomiting uncontrollably or becoming dehydrated
- Side pain, when it is severe and occurs in the lower right stomach, side or back or is accompanied by fever, nausea, diarrhea or blood in the urine
- Stomach pain, when accompanied by a hard or tender stomach, nausea, shortness of breath, fever or irregular heartbeat
- Trouble breathing, when breathing stops, is noisy or high-pitched and comes with pain in the chest or severe shortness of breath
If you are unsure if your symptoms require an emergency room visit, you can speak to a nurse 24/7 by calling our Consult-A-Nurse® team at (863) 763-9228.
What to expect at the emergency room
When you get to the emergency room, one of our triage nurses will assess your symptoms and vital signs. Next, a registration clerk will collect your insurance card (if available) and other information.
We medically screen, evaluate and stabilize all patients — whether or not they have insurance or are able to pay.
Anyone who has severe, life-threatening illnesses or injuries will be treated first. Everyone else will be treated in the order they arrive.
Before discharge, we encourage you to ask our emergency care teams any questions you have. It is also useful for you to keep all of your paperwork, discharge information and medicines or prescriptions together after you leave the emergency room.
After discharge, our emergency department staff will reach out to your primary care provider to ensure they are updated on your care.
What to bring to the emergency room
When coming to the emergency room, we recommend you bring:
- A list of medicines you currently take
- A list of known allergies
- Copies of results from recent medical tests, if available
- Personal care preferences and restrictions
- A responsible adult or phone number for someone to contact
Thrive Blog
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