Practice Management
Urgent message: No definitive treatment is available for this condition but diagnosis is important to reassure patients and avoid unnecessary care. SHAILENDRA K. SAXENA, MD, PHD, MIKAYLA SPANGLER, PHARMD, BCPS, and ARCHANA MIKKILINENI, MD Rashes are a common reason for patients to present to the urgent care clinic. Many require treatment but some do not. Schamberg’s disease is one such rash. Case Presentation A 42-year-old male presented to our clinic with a chief complaint of …
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Urgent message: Call-backs within 24 to 48 hours of discharge can identify potential complications, ensure that instructions are followed, and reinforce a positive visit experience. ALAN A. AYERS, MBA, MAcc, Experity Introduction Urgent care centers provide immediate medical attention to patients who feel their symptoms are too pressing to wait for an appointment with their primary care physician, but not serious enough to warrant a visit to the emergency room (ER). With extended night/weekend hours, …
Read MoreLee A. Resnick, MD, FAAFP Well-meaning or not, government regulation of health care is always cause for concern among practicing physicians. No other profession is exposed to the layers of oversight that physicians endure—from OSHA to HIPAA, from Stark to Anti-kickback laws, the OIG and Medicare, just to name a few. Individual health care bills pile on to create a practice environment so mired in regulation that it would paralyze health care delivery to adequately …
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This x-ray was taken on a 90-year-old woman with a cough but no chest pain. View the image taken (Figure 1) and consider what your diagnosis would be.
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This x-ray was taken on a 5-year-old boy with a fall and blow to his left foot. He could not bear weight on the foot. View the image taken (Figure 1) and consider what your diagnosis would be.
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Urgent message: Tissue adhesives are quick, painless, and result in a good cosmetic outcome, making them well-suited for use to treat wounds in urgent care. SIMON TANKSLEY, M.D. Introduction Tissue adhesives are ideal for closing simple lacerations, especially on the face of children.1-3 Such repairs are quick, painless, and do not require removal of sutures. They are also excellent for treating large skin tears in the elderly (Figure 1) and particularly useful for thin, fragile …
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Urgent message: With the popularity of piercing of the ear cartilage, urgent care providers need to be on the alert for perichondritis and to treat it promptly. SHAILENDRA K. SAXENA, MD, PHD, and MIKAYLA SPANGLER, PHARM D, BCPS Case Presentation A 26-year-old female presented with complaints of a swollen right pinna for 2 weeks. The swelling progressively worsened over time. In addition, she also complained of severe pain of the right pinna, with an intensity …
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Urgent message: Investing time in designing repeatable processes and documentation can pay off in a more efficient, effective, and scalable urgent care operation. ALAN A. AYERS, MBA, MAcc Practice Velocity Introduction Despite management’s best intentions to deliver extraordinary patient experiences, many times employees just don’t know what to do. Front-line staff members are often conflicted between “doing what’s right” for the business, avoiding management scrutiny, exerting extra unrewarded effort, and “doing what’s right” for the …
Read MoreThe patient, a 16-year-old male, presented after a blow to his right hand. View the image taken (Figure 1) and consider what your diagnosis would be. Resolution of the case is described on the next page.
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