Clinical

As you probably know from the inescapable mainstream media reports lately, the COVID-19 pandemic is in the midst of a surge that parallels or exceeds the conditions of last spring. Unfortunately, it’s about to get worse, in all likelihood. First, the weather is getting colder across the country, meaning less opportunity for outdoor, well-spaced social outlets. Secondly, college kids are descending on their hometowns and are eager to celebrate the holiday season with family and …

Families around the country are deliberating whether to stick with large gatherings that have been central to Thanksgiving traditions this year, or to cut down on contact with seldom-seen relations in deference to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has officially recommended the latter, insisting that getting together with people who haven’t seen each other in months is likely to increase incidence of infection, it’s likely many of your patients …

Urgent care centers have developed sound practices to ensure the safety of staff members and patients when it comes to reducing risk for exposure to COVID-19. Anecdotal evidence suggests they’ve been effective, too. However, you should be aware that a study in Minnesota found one third of COVID-19 exposures among healthcare workers can be attributed to family and community exposure. The study, conducted by the Minnesota Department of Health and published in Morbidity and Mortality …

Referendums on further legalization of marijuana just passed in several states. Proponents of such measures tend to focus on the law enforcement and tax revenue aspects, but urgent care providers should keep in mind that lowering hurdles to use of any type of cannabis product is likely to also increase incidence of patients presenting with signs of toxicity. In fact, edible cannabis toxicity has been on the rise for the past 2 years, according to …

Recognizing which patients with COVID-19 will require hospitalization has been something of a crapshoot unless one presents in obvious distress. That may be changing, however, thanks to a new tool that is purported to aid in predicting who is likely to end up in the hospital. As detailed in a new article published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases, the COVID-19 acuity score (CoVA) draws on demographic, clinical, radiographic, and medical history variables that assess …

Shortfalls in testing supplies—especially in urgent care centers—was a serious problem at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Anecdotal evidence suggests that one reason the virus spread so widely and quickly was that asymptomatic patients who didn’t know they were sick (and infectious) went about their business instead of quarantining. Supply chain issues have, largely, been ironed out so there’s no shortage of places to get tested. However, an article published …

PowerPoint Presentation Urgent care professionals recognized early on that patients were not seeking care for complaints they would have presented with before the COVID-19 pandemic. Now there are data backing up that belief. According to information gathered by the consulting firm Advisory Board, total urgent care center volumes dropped 50% in the spring. As you know, they’ve come back strong since then, although Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles reports that its urgent care locations are still …