Ashley Blachford, Author at Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

WHO Wants the World to Skip the Salt

The World Health Organization released a detailed report on high blood pressure, emphasizing the condition as a leading global risk factor for death and disability. Hypertension affects 1 in 3 adults worldwide, often leading to stroke, heart attack, heart failure, and kidney damage. The report suggests that if all countries improve their hypertension treatment protocols to fall in line with high-performing nations, the efforts could prevent 76 million deaths, 120 million strokes, 79 million heart …

Mercy Health Building New UC Centers

Mercy Health, a hospital system based in Cincinnati, Ohio, recently opened four new urgent care centers, and more expansion is planned for 2024, according to Becker’s Hospital Review. Mercy operates five hospitals and employs 35,000 workers across Ohio and Kentucky. Seems about right: Although the pace of new site growth in urgent care slowed a bit in the past year, expansion trends show consistent upward trajectories across the country. See the 2023 list of top …

Researchers Develop Mpox Point of Care Test

Last spring, a global outbreak of mpox (formerly known as “monkey pox”) spread to 110 countries. Cases in the United States as of last month have reached a total of 30,767, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Meanwhile, researchers have found that a newly developed point-of-care assay for the rapid detection of the mpox virus has the potential for use in “low-resource and remote settings,” allowing for rapid point-of-care diagnosis. The results …

Parents Accidentally Double Dose Kids’ ADHD Meds

Researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio found a disturbing number of preventable mistakes made by parents and caregivers involving medications given to children for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The most common error (54%) was accidental double dosing. What’s more concerning is that the rate of errors in giving kids ADHD medications has risen significantly over the past two decades. From 2000 through 2021, errors increased by almost 300%. Kids between the ages 6 and …

Loss of Taste or Smell a Less Likely COVID-19 Symptom

Clinical teams are facing some difficulty in distinguishing between COVID-19, allergies, and the common cold this season because some traditional COVID-19 symptoms—such as dry cough and loss of taste or smell—have now become less common. The Zoe COVID Symptom Study in the UK supports this trend, with physicians observing milder disease, mostly concentrated in the upper respiratory tract. Sore throat was often identified as the first noticeable symptom, as reported in an NBC News article. …

Urgent Care Pay to Start at $25 Per Hour Minimum in California

A bill that has found its way through the California Legislature aims to raise minimum wages for healthcare workers. Those who work in urgent care centers are specifically called out in measures included in SB 525. Governor Gavin Newsome has until October 14 to sign or veto the bill. According to Cal Matters, the amended version of the policy has the support of the state’s hospital association, employers, and labor groups. How it rolls out: …

Some Patients Wait 5.5 Hours in the ED Before Giving Up

About 3% of patients leave emergency departments (EDs) without being seen, according to a federal data set that was summarized in Becker’s Hospital Review. State information analyzed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) demonstrates the variability in wait times in the ED before patients leave. Patients in North Dakota walk out after a median wait time of 108 minutes—the shortest time span. By comparison, patients in Washington, D.C., wait a median of …

Retail Competition Makes UC’s Path Forward Clear

New state laws have expanded the scope of practice for pharmacists, allowing consumers to access a longer list of health services at their local retail shop. Walmart, Walgreens Boots Alliance, and CVS Health are embracing the opportunities, aiming to boost their healthcare revenue from privately insured populations. According to a Bloomberg article, each of the retailers is rolling out everything from on-site symptom evaluation and testing to medication prescribing and treatment—all delivered by pharmacists—in 10 …

College Event Encourages Use of UC

Level Up MD Urgent Care recently presented an educational event at Bloomfield College in Bloomfield, New Jersey, designed to equip resident assistants with skills to address emergency health and safety concerns in student residence halls. Information focused on first-aid procedures as well as best practices to protect people from exposure to bodily fluids or bloodborne pathogens. There’s more: Discussions at the event included direct information about Level Up MD Urgent Care’s operational hours, location, and …

Older Women Experience More Falls Than Men

According to new data analysis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), patterns in nonfatal and fatal falls among those age 65 and older vary not only by sex but also by the state in which the person lives. An analysis of 2020 data demonstrated that 14 million older adults had fallen during the previous year. More women (28.9%) reported falling than men (26.1%), and the percentage of older adults who had fallen …