Emergency Medicine & Emergency Departments

Ochsner’s emergency services are available in Louisiana and Mississippi.

If you are experiencing an emergency, call 911 or find a location near you.

How do I know whether I should visit urgent care or the emergency room?

Minor illnesses and injuries are best treated by your primary care provider or Ochsner’s urgent care services. When your symptoms are severe or you have a life-threatening emergency, you need the emergency department.

A few symptoms that should lead you to make an emergency department visit include, but are not limited to:

• Bleeding that will not stop

• Chest pain

• Feeling and acting tired or confused after mild or major trauma

• Loss of balance or coordination

• Passing out

• Problems speaking or understanding speech

• Severe abdominal pain that may worsen when urinating

• Sudden leg, arm or facial weakness or numbness

• Trouble breathing or catching your breath

• Vision loss

• Worst headache ever experienced

• Wounds from stabbing or gunshot

When seeking emergency care, leave jewelry, medication and other valuables at home. If possible, bring the following:

• Emergency contact information

• List of current medications and allergies

• Medical records

• Photo identification

In the heat of your stressful moment, we strive to provide an excellent patient experience. That’s why we greet you promptly and begin your care as soon as possible.

Here's what to expect when you arrive at the emergency department:

• Soon after you arrive, a nurse will check your vital signs and ask your primary reason for seeking emergency care. Based on this information, the nurse will determine the severity of your problem. If your issue is life-threatening, you’ll go to a patient room immediately.

• Once in a patient room, your team will work to determine or confirm a diagnosis. Blood or urine tests, along with radiology and diagnostic imaging tests (MRI, CT, ultrasound, etc.) could be ordered.

• Your team will begin treatment.

• When you are OK to leave, you will be sent home with follow-up orders. If you need additional care before going home, you may be admitted to the hospital for additional testing, treatment or evaluation.

In addition to general emergency services, Ochsner offers specialized emergency care including:

• Pediatric emergency care

• Comprehensive Stroke Centers at Ochsner Medical Center - New Orleans and Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport

• Trauma care the Level I Trauma Center at Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport – Academic Medical Center. A Level II Trauma Center is available at Ochsner Lafayette General Medical Center.

The caring professionals on staff at every Ochsner emergency department are specially trained to diagnose and treat emergency issues so you get back to your life as soon as possible. If you need a higher level of care, we can transfer you to another facility with ease.

Need specialty care? Ochsner doctors are trained in dozens of areas. Within moments, our emergency staff can consult with cardiology, orthopedics, pediatrics, neurology, psychology and many other specialists. Our specialists can even evaluate you virtually to help you get the right diagnosis and the right treatment as soon as possible.

When you visit an Ochsner emergency department, you’ll receive care from a team of experts. Our emergency staff includes:

• Case workers

• Emergency medicine physicians

• Nurse practitioners and physician associates (advanced practice providers)

• Nurses

• Paramedics

• Social workers

Ochsner actively works to improve the future of emergency care. Every emergency services department reviews data for process improvement opportunities.

Some Ochsner facilities help train future emergency medicine physicians and advanced practice providers. These physicians in training work alongside our team of experts. During their residencies, they get real-world experience providing patient care to those in need.

Every day, Ochsner emergency services specialists bring health and healing to those needing critical care. Once you receive a diagnosis, your team creates a treatment plan, and care begins immediately.

Depending on your needs, your provider may prescribe medication, surgery, therapy or another intervention. Whatever you need, you get it in a timely manner.

Not necessarily. The emergency team makes every effort to evaluate patients as soon as they arrive.

Sometimes, there are more patients in the emergency room than there are beds available. If a bed isn’t available, the emergency team might talk to patients in different locations like triage or small rooms. They also might use virtual technology called “TeleTriage” to make sure patients are safe and get their treatment started while they wait for a bed.

That depends on why you're there. The medical staff wants to get a diagnosis and potential treatment started as soon as possible — sometimes even before an emergency department bed is available.

For example, a patient with a suspected sprained ankle may be evaluated when they arrive, then sent for an X-ray before an emergency department waiting room is available. Once the X-ray is complete, the patient would go to a results waiting room and be sent home with treatment instructions.

In this case, the patient would receive an evaluation and diagnosis from the emergency department team without ever getting a bed in the emergency room.