Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Happy Thanksgiving! Now Please Pass the Salmonella

Joyous (or even politically charged) family get-togethers are a holiday tradition for most Americans. Some holidays are also occasions for more inherent risk than others, however, with Thanksgiving near the top of the list of the most potentially dangerous. Whether it’s Uncle Ned trying out his new electric carving knife after one too many cocktails or an undercooked turkey carrying Salmonella—something the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns about annually—people in your community are …

Are You Doing Enough to Protect Your Clinicians? The Data Suggest ‘Probably Not’

Envision four actual nurses who work in your urgent care operation. You probably picture them smiling, or engaged in their jobs and providing care to patients. Now picture one of them being physically or verbally assaulted in the workplace—YOUR workplace. New data from the American Nurses Association suggest that’s a very real, and quantified, likelihood; workplace violence is so common that one out of four nurses acknowledges they’ve been the victim of assault of one …

CDC Takes Another Stab at EVALI Guidance as Flu Season Picks Up

In consideration of mounting cases of influenza—and the respiratory concerns they bring with them—the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its guidelines on diagnosing and treating patients with signs of e-cigarette or vaping lung injury (EVALI). Urgent care providers, and all healthcare professionals, are urged to ask patients with symptoms of respiratory or gastrointestinal illness (or symptoms such as fever, chills, or weight loss) if they use, and how often they use, e-cigarettes …

UCA Webinar: Can Your Business Survive if You’re Not Operationally Excellent?

“Excellence” is an overused, sometimes poorly understood concept. Yet, patients will let you know in no uncertain terms when you fail to provide service that measures up to that standard. The Urgent Care Association hopes to address that challenge in a two-part webinar, The Operationally Excellent Organization—Best Practices in the Industry, on December 3 at noon and December 10 at 1 pm (both times Central). The speaker for both parts will be Mark Reddinger, COO …

After Announcing Clinic Closings, Walgreens Forges Ahead with Primary Care Partnership

Just a couple of weeks ago, we told you that Walgreens had announced it would close nearly half of its in-store clinics in the face of withering competition. That move has nothing to do with their long-in-the-works plan to open physician-staffed primary clinics in partnership with VillageMD, however; the company just revealed that it has opened the first of five such locations in Houston. They expect the rest to open next month and in January …

‘Tis the Season of Giving—and of Getting to Know New Prospective Patients

The holiday season brings out not only the average person’s generous side, but also more social activity, celebratory dinners, and travel to areas where they probably don’t have access to their usual healthcare facilities. So, getting your name out there at this time of year can reap untold benefits. One good way is to join with your community to help the less fortunate among us. Integrated Medical Alliance (IMA) Urgent Care and Primary Care in …

Urgent Care Leads the Way in Reducing ED Visits in Utah

The Utah Department of Health specifically called out greater utilization of urgent care as a key factor in reducing emergency room visits across the state—along with a corresponding decrease in associated costs, of course. While the report did not put a dollar amount on the savings, it does note that an average trip to the ED in the state costs five-and-a-half times more than an urgent care visit. Since the state DoH reports that around …

Reducing Occ Med Opioid Prescriptions Is Simpler than You Might Think

A new study by Mitchell International and the WCF Mutual Insurance Company showed a strong downward trend in prescriptions for opioid medications after relatively simple measures were introduced on the part of the insurer. The number of opioids prescribed fell 56% in 18 months after the company started flagging prescriptions for more than 14 days of medication. When such prescriptions were written, WCF either declined to cover the full amount or flat-out rejected them. Further, …

Concussion Protocols Are Now Coming into Play Legally

The risk for concussion among young athletes is a constant concern that comes into sharper focus every fall, when young athletes don helmets and shoulder pads and head out on the gridiron. Now a former Idaho high school football player is taking his old school district to court, charging that he was told it was safe to get back out on the field just 2 weeks after being concussed back in 2017. The $300,000 suit …

New Data Affirm Effective Treatment for Acute Urticaria

New research revealed at the recent Annual Meeting of the American College of Emergency Physicians shows that intravenous cetirizine is noninferior to IV diphenhydramine in the treatment of acute urticaria, with a better safety profile. The researchers randomized 262 adult patients with acute urticaria who presented to 1 of 19 EDs or urgent care centers from March 2017 to April 2018 to receive either 50 mg IV diphenhydramine or 10 mg IV cetirizine. Primary endpoint …

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