Practice Management
Last spring, a global outbreak of mpox (formerly known as “monkey pox”) spread to 110 countries. Cases in the United States as of last month have reached a total of 30,767, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Meanwhile, researchers have found that a newly developed point-of-care assay for the rapid detection of the mpox virus has the potential for use in “low-resource and remote settings,” allowing for rapid point-of-care diagnosis. The results …
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Researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio found a disturbing number of preventable mistakes made by parents and caregivers involving medications given to children for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The most common error (54%) was accidental double dosing. What’s more concerning is that the rate of errors in giving kids ADHD medications has risen significantly over the past two decades. From 2000 through 2021, errors increased by almost 300%. Kids between the ages 6 and …
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Clinical teams are facing some difficulty in distinguishing between COVID-19, allergies, and the common cold this season because some traditional COVID-19 symptoms—such as dry cough and loss of taste or smell—have now become less common. The Zoe COVID Symptom Study in the UK supports this trend, with physicians observing milder disease, mostly concentrated in the upper respiratory tract. Sore throat was often identified as the first noticeable symptom, as reported in an NBC News article. …
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A bill that has found its way through the California Legislature aims to raise minimum wages for healthcare workers. Those who work in urgent care centers are specifically called out in measures included in SB 525. Governor Gavin Newsome has until October 14 to sign or veto the bill. According to Cal Matters, the amended version of the policy has the support of the state’s hospital association, employers, and labor groups. How it rolls out: …
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About 3% of patients leave emergency departments (EDs) without being seen, according to a federal data set that was summarized in Becker’s Hospital Review. State information analyzed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) demonstrates the variability in wait times in the ED before patients leave. Patients in North Dakota walk out after a median wait time of 108 minutes—the shortest time span. By comparison, patients in Washington, D.C., wait a median of …
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New state laws have expanded the scope of practice for pharmacists, allowing consumers to access a longer list of health services at their local retail shop. Walmart, Walgreens Boots Alliance, and CVS Health are embracing the opportunities, aiming to boost their healthcare revenue from privately insured populations. According to a Bloomberg article, each of the retailers is rolling out everything from on-site symptom evaluation and testing to medication prescribing and treatment—all delivered by pharmacists—in 10 …
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Level Up MD Urgent Care recently presented an educational event at Bloomfield College in Bloomfield, New Jersey, designed to equip resident assistants with skills to address emergency health and safety concerns in student residence halls. Information focused on first-aid procedures as well as best practices to protect people from exposure to bodily fluids or bloodborne pathogens. There’s more: Discussions at the event included direct information about Level Up MD Urgent Care’s operational hours, location, and …
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According to new data analysis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), patterns in nonfatal and fatal falls among those age 65 and older vary not only by sex but also by the state in which the person lives. An analysis of 2020 data demonstrated that 14 million older adults had fallen during the previous year. More women (28.9%) reported falling than men (26.1%), and the percentage of older adults who had fallen …
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Intermountain’s Saltzer Health expanded its services this month to include an orthopedic clinic open on Friday nights, specifically designed to care for injured athletes. The service is available at its 24-hour urgent care location known as Ten Mile in Meridian, Idaho, every Friday from 8 to 11 PM. How patients benefit: With the back-to-school season, every community is teeming with young athletes participating in Friday night sporting events. Rather than accessing the emergency department and …
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Just over 10% of certified physician assistants (PAs) with a specialty in emergency medicine worked in the urgent care practice setting in 2022, according to the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants in its recent statistical profile of PAs. Here’s the good news: While 10% is a small subset of the PA workforce within the emergency medicine category, it’s a significant jump from the 6.6% who reported working in UC settings in the commission’s …
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