Ashley Blachford, Author at Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Abstracts in Urgent Care – June 2023

Download the article PDF: Abstracts in Urgent Care – June 2023 Ivan Koay MBChB, MRCS, FRNZCUC, MD Immersive Virtual Reality Use in Reducing Pediatric Procedural Anxiety Take-home point: Immersive virtual reality (IVR) use in pediatric patients significantly improved pain and anxiety compared with the control group. Citation: Wong C, Choi K. Effects of an immersive virtual reality intervention on pain and anxiety among pediatric patients undergoing venipuncture: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6(2):e230001. …

Rash, Facial Palsy, and Ear Pain

A 62-year-old woman presents with a rash that appeared simultaneously with the onset of ipsilateral facial palsy. She reports severe ear pain in the affected ear, along with hearing loss. Physical examination reveals grouped bullae and vesicles on an erythematous base ipsilaterally involving the auricle, external ear canal, and tympanic membrane, as well as the mouth and anterior two-thirds of the tongue. View the image taken and consider what your diagnosis would be.

The Best Time to Plant a Tree

Download the PDF: The Best Time to Plant a Tree Urgent Care is definitely ready to start Driving Change again. The pandemic taught us how to be in crisis-response mode all day every day, to roll with wave after wave after wave of external changes, to constantly pivot and adapt, to maintain a furious pace because our communities needed us to. It also diminished opportunities to improve other skills—longer-term thinking, broader-scope planning, finer-tuning on quality …

End of the Public Health Emergency: What’s Next?

Download PDF: End of the Public Health Emergency: What’s Next? With expiration of the national Public Health Emergency (PHE) as of May 11, the revenue cycle management (RCM) industry has to adjust to the “new normal.” Some emergency declarations were tied to the end of the PHE and others are not. While not a comprehensive list, I’ve outlined some of the most urgent care-relevant changes below. Payers Coverage for COVID-19 Testing, Treatments, and Vaccines During …

The X-Waiver Is No More: What This Means for Urgent Care

Urgent message: In December 2022, Congress passed the Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment Act (W-Waiver), which would remove federal patient caps and allow any healthcare provider with a standard DEA controlled-medication license to prescribe buprenorphine. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Senior Editor of The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine and President of Experity Consulting. For over a decade, the question of whether or not to prescribe buprenorphine/naloxone (Suboxone) products in urgent care has resurfaced with regularity. With …

Assessing Urgent Care Clinics’ Readiness to Manage a Lip Laceration

Urgent message: Lacerations are a common reason for patients to present to urgent care. Data suggest not all providers are comfortable managing lacerations, however. Clinicians who need additional training should be afforded such in order to reduce acuity degradation and unnecessary referrals to the emergency room. David T. Ford, MD; Patrick M. O’Malley, MD; and Brantley Dick, MD Citation: Ford DT, O’Malley PM, Dick B. Assessing Urgent Care Clinics’ Readiness to manage a lip laceration. …

A 69-Year-Old Male with Left-Sided Chest Pain and Dyspnea for 3 Days

Figure 1: Initial ECG (Case presented by Benjamin Cooper, MD, MEd, FACEP, Department of Emergency Medicine, McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston.)

A 46-Year-Old with Evolving Sores on Her Hand and Arm

A 46-year-old female presents with an evolving eruption that developed on her right hand and spread to her forearm over the past several weeks. She is an immunocompetent commercial landscaper who lives in Brazil, and she does not recall any specific injury. She is regularly exposed to toxic plants and sustains minor scratches and cuts at work. She also suspects that she could have experienced bug bites. She appears well and is without systemic symptoms. …

A 40-Year-Old with Swelling After a Direct Blow to the Eye

A 40-year-old male presents with pain and swelling in his right eye after being struck by a foul ball while coaching his daughter’s softball game. View the images taken and consider what your diagnosis and next steps would be. Resolution of the case is described on the next page.

Are Urgent Care Providers Liable if They Don’t Test Patients for COVID?

Download the PDF: Are Urgent Care Providers Liable if They Don’t Test Patients for COVID? Urgent message: As the severity of newer strains of SARS-CoV-2 has decreased, many patients and providers have become less vigilant about COVID-19. Yet COVID-19 remains among the top 10 causes of death in the U.S. Failure to diagnose and, if eligible, treat patients with COVID-19 may result in significant harm. Professional liability is less likely, however, given the current governmental …