Although emergency rooms are required for true emergencies, the number of ER patients without true emergencies -- but who still visit the ER for treatment -- has caused a new trends in some hospitals.

It sounds like something out of a discount store bank branch, but self-serve kiosks are making their way into some ERs. Patients can input their information and really see if what's happening to them is truly an emergency. Pretty neat -- or a waste of time?

Patients with medical concerns but without true life-threatening and immediate needs for assistance can get some advice from a small computer kiosk while helping the information systems in some hospitals rate emergencies with a better and more detailed informational record beyond a patient's spoken words.