There is a difference. We were in a meeting last week, and I pointed this out, and it brought a lot of clarity to what we were discussing.

Panic is almost always bad. It usually leaves destruction in its wake.
It’s also the natural first reaction when faced with a crisis.
Your marriage isn’t working out? Get a divorce. Or have an affair.

The crisis response on the other end of the spectrum is apathy. I think it’s even worse than panic. At least when you panic, you change something, and hope is born.
Apathy just decides to live with the dull pain of mediocrity.

The third option is urgency.

I have responded with panic, apathy, and urgency to different crises in my life, and urgency works best.

Urgency says: “We’re going to lock the doors and stay up all night if we need to until we work this out. We’re going to set some deadlines for resolution and do whatever it takes to meet them.”

Panic tends to factor God out of the occasion. It leaves Him very little room to move in my situation because I’ve taken matters into my own hands. Which screws everything up.
Urgency means I become so desperate for God that I’ll do whatever it takes to see Him move. But the emphasis is on His activity.

Summary:
Urgency is similar to, but much better than, panic.
But either one is better than apathy.