Practice Management
A 35-year-old man presents to urgent care complaining of severe posterior heel pain after a fall. He works for a local roofing company and fell a few feet from a ladder, landing on a hard surface. View the images taken and consider what your diagnosis and next steps would be. Resolution of the case is described on the following page.
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Jeff Willis, MD Urgent Message: A well-told story explaining your thought process during a patient encounter will contain all the elements required for accurate coding. Attorneys are less likely to question care when a logical and complete story is clearly documented. Citation: Willis J. Charting with Purpose: Precision Strategies for Accurate Coding and Malpractice Defense. J Urgent Care Med. 2024; 18(4) 13-16. As a medical legal consultant, I have learned medical malpractice claims are an …
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Urgent Message: Deep tissue infections are possible considerations for diabetic patients presenting to urgent care with muscle tenderness who recently have had joint or bursal aspirations or injections. Citation: Mati M. Quadriceps Pyomyositis After Aspiration of Patellar Bursitis: A Case Report. J Urgent Care Med. 2024;18(4):25-27. Key Words: quadriceps myositis, diabetes, patellar bursitis, infectious disease Abstract Introduction Infectious myositis and pyomyositis are uncommon and therefore easily overlooked with serious potential complications of bursal aspirations. Clinical …
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Patrick O’Malley, MD Urgent Message: Clinicians can apply best-practice care principles for lacerations of the hand in the urgent care setting by gaining a better understanding of the anatomy and wound repair techniques. Such competency can also help reduce non-indicated referrals to the emergency department. Citation: O’Malley P. Does This Finger Laceration Need Immediate Vascular Surgery Consultation Perspectives Based on an Urgent Care Patient Experience. J Urgent Care Med. 2024;18(4): 28-30 Key words: laceration, …
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Morgan P. McBee, MD, CIIP; Leah S. McBee, MD Urgent Message: Urgent care clinicians need to provide relevant clinical history for radiology orders to ensure that the correct exam gets performed, an accurate ICD-10 code can be assigned for billing, and that radiologists are able to provide high-quality reports that contribute to timely and appropriate patient care in the urgent care setting. Citation: McBee M, McBee L. The Importance of Providing Clinical History for Radiology …
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An 18-year-old man presented to urgent care with fever, pain in multiple joints, and a back rash that had been progressive for the last few weeks. On examination of the back, there were multiple painful erythematous and violaceous papules and nodules as well as several large pustules. Some of the lesions were eroded and crusted. The patient reported that he recently started an intensive bodybuilding regimen with a 3 month use of anabolic-androgenic steroid/testosterone prior …
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Can Artificial Intelligence Be Used as a Behavioral Health Tool for Adolescents? Take Home Point: Conversational Artificial Intelligence (CAI) may have potential as a tool to help address the unmet needs of adolescent behavioral health treatment. Citation: Opel D, Kious B, Cohen I. AI as a Mental Health Therapist for Adolescents. JAMA Pediatr. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2023.4215 Relevance: Mental health issues among adolescents have been rapidly increasing in prevalence. The increasing need for adolescent mental healthcare has led …
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Blood Pressure Monitoring—Cuff Size Matters Take Home Point: The use of an inaccurately sized automated blood pressure (BP) cuff resulted in significantly inaccurate BP readings. Citation: Ishigami J, Charleston J, Miller E, et. al. Effects of Cuff Size on the Accuracy of Blood Pressure Readings: The Cuff(SZ) Randomized Crossover Trial. JAMA Intern Med. 2023 Oct 1;183(10):1061-1068. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2023.3264. Relevance: Chronic hypertension is a leading cause of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular morbidity and mortality, and accurate measurement …
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Urgent Message: Better understanding of tympanic membrane/middle ear conditions can inform more accurate diagnoses at the point of care. Citation: LaCour J. Tympanic Membrane Conditions Beyond Otitis Media in Urgent Care Practice. J Urgent Care Med. 2023;18(3):15-19 Author Affiliation: Jeff LaCour, MD, Compassio Medical Education. Video: Watch a video featuring Jeff LaCour, MD, that further explains tympanic membrane conditions with supplemental images. WATCH VIDEO Urgent care providers are often tasked to determine the source of …
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