Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Look into the Patient’s Eyes—They May Hold Additional Clues to Their COVID-19 Status

A clearer picture of the effects of COVID-19 on the eyes of infected patients is emerging in new data from Hubei province, China. Researchers there have found ocular manifestations including epiphora, conjunctival congestion, and other conditions occur commonly in patients with confirmed COVID-19. While the retrospective study was small (38 patients), it produced several results that could be helpful to urgent care providers who treat patients without other, more definitive signs of disease. Roughly one …

Think You Know How COVID-19 Is Transmitted? Hundreds of Scientists Suggest You Think Again

The World Health Organization has been at the forefront of proposing how COVID-19 is transmitted, with the main theory being that one person becomes infected by taking in relatively large droplets expelled when someone with the virus coughs, sneezes, speaks, etc. However, 239 scientists from 32 countries signed a letter claiming that even smaller particles can carry the virus—so small that they’re essentially wafting through the air from one side of a room to another, …

COVID-19 Haunts Healthcare Workers at Bedtime. How Is Your Staff Sleeping?

Every American is under additional stress these days, whether it’s due to having to adapt to a new way of working, the strain of social isolation, worry over an at-risk family member, or illness itself. That burden is multiplied for urgent care providers and other clinicians, of course, as they’re on the frontlines of the crisis. An article just published in the journal Sleep and Breathing suggests there is a causal link between COVID-19 and …

Update: The Civil Rights Act Applies to LGBTQ Employees; What Does This Mean for Urgent Care Centers?

Urgent message: The United States Supreme Court ruled recently that LGBTQ discrimination is prohibited under the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Urgent care centers may cultivate a tolerant and diverse work environment while protecting themselves against claims of discrimination by adopting and consistently following policies related to hiring, evaluation, promotion, benefits, etc. for all employees. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Chief Executive Officer of Velocity Urgent Care and is Practice Management Editor of The Journal …

UCA Webinar: Better Onboarding Fosters Better Teams in Your Urgent Care Center

The process of recruiting, interviewing, and hiring the best talent for your urgent care center can be so overwhelming that by the time your new hire’s first day comes, it’s easy to think the rest will take care of itself. It won’t. The steps you take to “onboard” new team members can make all the difference in the world when it comes to how they’ll perform, and even how long they’ll stay in your employ. …

If the Patients Can’t Come to Urgent Care, This Operator Brings Urgent Care to the Patients

Too many urgent care centers have suffered financial and personnel losses during the COVID-19 pandemic. From being overlooked as viable participants in widespread testing efforts to patients who were too afraid to leave their homes even for medical care, the industry has taken a major hit. Some businesses may even go under. Others, however, are finding a way to adapt by offering telemedicine services or channeling patients to different locations for different needs. Merion Health …

Brace Yourself: Undiagnosed Cases of COVID-19 May Outnumber Confirmed Cases by 10 to 1

Some states have been accused of “reopening” their economies too soon, with the result being upsurges in COVID-19 cases—and renewed concerns that the healthcare system could be overwhelmed. This may not reflect a resurgence at all, however, but instead reveal the number of cases that had gone unrecognized previously. Robert Redfield, MD, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suggested recently that for every documented case of COVID-19, there are probably 10 more …

ED Utilization Data Reveal Where Urgent Care Could Make an Impact—and Draw Young Patients

A team of researchers who sought to understand what insights could be gleaned from studying emergency room utilization measures wound up revealing data that could be useful for urgent care operators seeking to bolster their pediatric services. A study just published in The American Journal of Managed Care considered whether ED visit count and ED reliance could be used to identify clinically or demographically different populations of children. Of interest to urgent care operators is …

COVID-19 Habits Offer a Rich Lesson in What Patients Like About Telemedicine

Unfounded or not, fear of visiting healthcare facilities (including urgent care centers) has resulted in many patients forgoing care during the COVID-19 crisis. However, the pandemic has also resulted in growing reliance on telemedicine—and, not coincidentally, in employment of telemedicine services among urgent care operators. A survey of 1,800 patients conducted by Doctor.com and published in the journal Patient Care revealed what moves patients to choose telemedicine for a given complaint, but also their preferences …

CDC Update: Obesity Is High Risk with COVID-19—but Hypertension Is Lower Risk Than First Thought

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to refine its guidance on which patients are most likely to experience severe disease when infected with COVID-19—with some of their statements reflecting a change from earlier advice. Early on in the pandemic, the CDC suggested that hypertension would put infected patients at higher risk than those without hypertension; now, however, the agency now says hypertension does not confer significant additional risk. Obesity, however, is associated with …