Practice Management
For every person who incorrectly insists the COVID-19 isn’t safe because it was rushed through the approval process there’s one who has already gotten the vaccine and is now teething at the bit to get a booster shot. While it’s unclear at this time what role boosters will play in fighting the pandemic down the road, for now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has specified that urgent care providers and other healthcare professionals …
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Owing to the facts that adults have been eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine longer than children (with many children still not able to do so) and schools have been back in session for more than a month now, cases among children have grown to the extent that they now make up a disproportionate share of the U.S. caseload. According to data from the American Academy of Pediatrics, children make up 22% of the U.S. …
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The fact that COVID-19 cases in adults continue to occur in great numbers—and (mainly unvaccinated) patients continue to die—may overshadow the fact that the rate of new cases nationally is dropping. As of October 6, according to data collected by The New York Times from state and local health agencies, new daily cases are now at their lowest point since August 6 of this year. This has led Scott Gottlieb, former head of the Food …
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One of the secondary consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially early on, has been that patients battling chronic conditions like hypertension, endocrine disorders, and arthritis took a step back from their ongoing care due to concerns about the virus. While that made sense at various points, the fact remains that they could be at greater risk for complications from their condition without even knowing it. This is certainly true of patients with diabetes. A study …
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Drive through many residential neighborhoods in the U.S. and you’re likely to see banners raging against mask mandates for schoolchildren. Grassroots organizations have even taken to buying space on billboards decrying the “cruelty” of making children wear masks and ridiculing the notion that doing so offers any protection at all. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would probably beg to differ, however, as data from a newly released study show there is a distinct …
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As JUCM News readers know, it wasn’t that long ago that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention first recommended that all pregnant women get vaccinated against COVID-19. So it may be especially striking that they’ve already renewed that call with greater emphasis, announcing that they recommend “urgent action to increase coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination among people who are pregnant, recently pregnant (including those who are lactating), who are trying to become pregnant now, …
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Though multisystem inflammatory syndrome has been more associated with COVID-19 infection in children (hence, MIS-C), a newly published study delves into the most common characteristics—and risks—of MIS in adults. Urgent care clinicians should be aware that the study indicates that MIS-A presents roughly 4 weeks after acute COVID-19, with hyperinflammation and extrapulmonary multiorgan involvement that the researchers found “difficult to discern from acute biphasic COVID-19 and postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection.” Of the 221 patients …
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Urgent care was notoriously overlooked as a key contributor early in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, first as a testing resource and then as a powerful partner in vaccination campaigns. At least one urgent care company is ensuring that the industry will be represented in research into not only preventing the virus, but also establishing definitive treatments for ill patients. Houston-based Next Level Urgent Care says it is launching three clinical trials to evaluate …
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Scrubs? Traditional white coat (with a dress shirt and tie for men or a blouse and a skirt for women, or more casual)? How about a polo with your facility’s logo emblazoned on the chest? It’s not just a matter of what you’re comfortable wearing, or your employer’s dress code. Patients get definite perceptions of the care they’re about to receive based on your sartorial choices—to the extent that they may trust you more or …
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A Salmonella outbreak that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has described as growing “rapidly” has now sickened 279 people in 29 states, with no strong indications of the source at this time. While that number seems small, the number of infections doubled in the course of a week and the CDC and health officials in multiple states have been hard pressed to identify the source. While they’re narrowing the possibilities down—Salmonella has been …
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