5 Differences Between Urgency And Emergency That You Should Know

Do you know what the differences are between an urgency and an emergency? Don’t worry, we’ll tell you in detail right away, as well as other aspects of interest.

Some people when they find themselves in a dangerous situation, call or go to someone saying that they have an urgency or an emergency.

Although both are associated with a situation in which a person needs help as quickly as possible, you should know that there are some distinctions between them. 

Next, we will show you what aspects you have to look for to use these terms correctly.

What is an emergency?

This word  comes from Latin and refers to the quality of “urgent”, that is, it requires early attention. An emergency, in short, is something that must be resolved immediately.

It is a health situation that occurs suddenly, without risk of life and that may require medical assistance within a reasonable period of time (between 2 and 3 hours). Therefore, in the different hospital centers there is an area to deal with these situations.

The emergency area of ​​a hospital is where all those patients who, depending on the moment in which a damage or pathology has occurred and the degree of severity it has, are treated, need medical attention different from the services of queries.

According to the third edition published in 2018 of the Emergency Manual, some of the reasons for an emergency service are:

• High fever
• Severe abdominal pain
• Gastrointestinal processes.
• Infections of different kinds.

What is an emergency?

When talking about an emergency, MedlinePlus experts refer to a critical situation of imminent danger to the life of the patient and that requires immediate action. Some of these emergency situations are:

• Burns.
• Serious accidents.
• Difficulty breathing.
• If a heart attack is suspected.

In short, it is a health situation that occurs suddenly. However, in this case immediate treatment or attention is needed, since there is a high risk to the person’s life.

Read also: What to do in an emergency due to an asthma attack

Differences between urgency and emergency

Now that you know the basic concepts of these two terms, we present you some differences that will allow you to identify an urgent situation from an emergency one more easily.

To begin with, as you have already seen, these two terms have different definitions. In this way, an emergency has a slow evolution and does not have to be fatal, but it must be attended to in a certain period of time to avoid major complications.

On the other hand, an emergency is a situation that immediately endangers the life of the patient or the vital function of an organ. In addition, it usually appears suddenly.

Another difference between urgency and emergency is that the latter requires an immediate specialized response, that is, in less than an hour. In addition, sometimes they usually need hospitalization, medical assistance on site or also specialized transport.

Likewise, in an emergency the request for care does not come from the patient himself. For this reason, the usual thing is that when dealing with extreme situations, the person accompanying the patient requests help.

In contrast, when it is an emergency, in general it is the patient himself who requests help and does not require an immediate specialized response. This is defended by the following study published by the Journal of the Spanish Society of Emergency and Emergency Medicine :

Types of urgency and emergency

Next, you must bear in mind that there are different types of urgencies and emergencies.

Regarding emergencies, the following can be distinguished :

• Objective urgency. It compromises the health or life of the patient from the perspective of healthcare personnel.
• Subjective urgency. It is based on the perspective of the person requesting the help.
• Vital urgency. In this urgency there is a compromise of vital functions and can be compared to an emergency.

Regarding the types of emergencies you can differentiate between :

• Ecological emergency. For example, National Geographic has published in 2020 that some countries have finally declared this alert for global warming. In addition, it can also be declared in cases of oil spills.

• Rural emergency.  Wildfires are a good example of this type of emergency.
• Health emergency. It is an emergency that was caused by a pandemic or epidemic, such as Ebola or Covid-19.

What is the state of emergency?

Finally, tell you that the word “emergency” is also used to refer to the situation in a country in which an event that threatens peace occurs.

This is one of the regimes that appears in the Constitution and that the government of a country can dictate in exceptional situations. Therefore, the term “state of emergency” appears in countries such as Chile, Colombia, Peru, Argentina or Spain.