I am happy that I can love my wife and my children dearly. However, the flipside of this is whenever any of them show any signs of getting sick I get extremely worried. I simply do not want anything bad to happen to them, and am worried to go to a doctor too late. My gut instinct is to go to the emergency room for every small issue, but I consciousely understand that this is not a logical response.
Do any of you have suggestions on how I can figure out what an appropriate response to different types of sickness symptoms would be?
I don’t know how is your country situation. Over here it is said “don’t go to emergency room unless you have an actual emergency”. Triage will make you wait for longer than an actual doctor appointment in a uncomfortable room full of sick people, not the place you want to be when you have a small disease.
Also emergency room doctors are trained more in stabilizing emergencies. For small diseases you’ll get better diagnosis and treatment in a general doctor.
I would advise in learning what constitutes an emergency or not and act accordingly.
Yeah, ER is almost never the right place. But if you do go to an ER, make sure it’s attached to a hospital. The free standing ones are notorious for predatory billing and will take your first born after saving them. And your insurance will fight to not cover it.
Urgent care and minute-clinic type things can be good. Primary care physicians are typically best, though they may be difficult to get an appointment for.