Urgent message: In most states, employment is at will—meaning that an employer can fire or terminate an employee at any time, for any reason that is not against the law. Even so, the employment at-will doctrine isn’t a license for an employer to fire employees at the drop of a hat. There are still critical considerations for urgent care operators to heed when terminating a provider or staff member. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is …
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Are Those Teambuilding Activities Really Worth It?
Urgent message: High-profile teambuilding extravaganzas may get your crew pumped up—once or twice a year, and assuming you can shut down your operation for the day. In the 7-day-a-week culture of urgent care, however, you may get better results by making it a day-to-day commitment. Amy Lafko, MSPT, MBA What you will find in this article? ROI of teambuilding Assess the current state of your team Tools to foster teamwork in a sustainable way There …
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Top 5 Wilderness Medicine Topics for the Urgent Care Provider
Urgent message: “Wilderness” medicine is less exotic than one would think. Patients with complaints that began during or after an outdoor outing in any season are likely to present to urgent care, making wilderness medical knowledge of paramount importance. Stewart Harsant, MMS, PA-C Introduction Every season holds its own unique appeal to those who love the great outdoors. Similarly, every season has its own distinct set of risks, ranging from gastrointestinal symptoms, dermatological conditions, …
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A 43-Year-Old Man with Pruritic, Scale Plaque and Vesicles on His Hands and Arms
The patient is a 43-year-old man who presents to urgent care after work with an extremely pruritic fine scaly plaque and tense vesicles covering his hands and arms. He had been gardening the previous weekend, worked on his car, and prepared his boat for its first voyage of the season. He wasn’t sure which activity might have caused such a terrible rash. View the image and consider what your diagnosis and next steps would be. …
Read MoreAbstract In Urgent Care-June 2019
Practice of Urgent Care: The Illusion of Multitasking and the Cost of Interruptions Key point: True multitasking is not possible. Rather, when we attempt to multitask, our brains are actually rapidly switching focus. Task-switching and interruptions negatively impact our ability to complete tasks accurately and effectively. Minimizing task-switching reduces the likelihood of cognitive errors and, consequently, adverse patient outcomes. Citation: Skaugset LM, Farrell S, Carney M, et al. Can you multitask? Evidence and limitations of …
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Can Urgent Care APPs Help Boost Cancer Patient Satisfaction and Keep Them Out of the ED?
Oncology itself has largely shifted to ambulatory settings—simultaneously increasing the volume of same-day urgent visits for treatment-related side effects, according to a new article in HemOnc Today. Utilizing the skills of nurse practitioners and physician assistants (known collectively as advanced-practice providers, or APPs) has been shown to keep costs down while also allowing greater, faster access for patients with cancer by giving them another option besides the ED—just as urgent care does for all manner …
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Beware—and Be Prepared: Tick-Borne Diseases Are on the Rise
Weekend hikers will soon be joined on the trail by vacationing families and campers—upping the potential for tick bites and associated disease exponentially as the warm weather weeks wear on. Unfortunately, if recent years are any indication, we can expect to see more cases of tick-borne disease than ever; they’ve risen steadily over the past several years. Notably, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported a marked increase in spotted fever rickettsiosis, which …
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Urgent Care Doors Will Open Wider to Veterans Next Week
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will start loosening the rules around allowing individuals covered by VA health plans to visit urgent care centers next week—fittingly enough on June 6, the 75th anniversary of D-Day. The move marks the latest step in the evolution of the Veterans Choice Act, which was adopted 5 years ago in response to complaints that veterans were not able to get timely appointments at VA hospitals. At the time, there …
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The School Year Is Ending—so It’s Prime Time for Next Fall’s Sports Physicals
Graduations and moving-up ceremonies mean it’s time for students to kick back and start enjoying the summer—and that urgent care centers need to start offering fall sports physicals already. Some states say student-athletes can have physicals for the following school year’s fall sports season in the previous spring. Michigan, for one, permits physicals for fall sports to take place as early as April 15 of the preceding school year. With families often being gone for …
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Key Trends in Overall Healthcare Align with Urgent Care’s Path
According to a new report from Definitive Healthcare, industry consolidation and consumerism are the two hottest trends among healthcare companies in the United States—both of which, as we know, also reflect the growth and attributes of the urgent care business. The third most-mentioned trends, the rise of telehealth, is becoming a hot topic in urgent care circles, as well. Industry consolidation was the most-mentioned response (25% of the 1,000 healthcare leaders in the provider, biotech, …
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