Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

If Documentation Is Costing You Time with Patients (and Money), You’re Not Alone

This will fall short of being a news flash, but physicians believe they spend too much time on documenting the care they provide during their time with patients. What is new (and possibly maddening), however, are data on time spent documenting outside of office hours and just how many physicians are dissatisfied with their EHR system. According to a new article in The Journal of the American Association, 35% of primary care physicians spend at …

Could Corticosteroid Monotherapy Be a Safe, Lifesaving Option for MIS-C?

Thousands of cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (and dozens of resultant deaths) moved COVID-19 infection among pediatric patients from “no big deal” to cause for serious concern. It didn’t take long for intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) plus corticosteroids to emerge as a viable treatment. The question of whether that was the best option followed shortly thereafter—with the answer being not necessarily, according to an article just published by JAMA Pediatrics. The retrospective cohort study …

Employing RNs vs NPs May Not Offer Payroll Savings Much Longer—in Some Areas

Historically, there’s been a pretty sizeable pay gap between nurse practitioners and registered nurses. Given the role NPs play in urgent care, it’s an important consideration in evaluating the makeup and scheduling of the clinical team. There are signs that the gap could be shrinking in some states, however. According to the California Health Foundation, for example, median salary for an RN in the Golden State is $110,620 compared with $129,960 for NPs, a difference …

Norovirus Seems to Have Taken a Break During the Pandemic. Unfortunately, Break’s Over

New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal that cases of norovirus are showing a dramatic resurgence after relatively low incidence in recent years, coinciding with the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since August 2021, the CDC reported 448 outbreaks of norovirus, compared with 78 over the same period for the previous year. According to a report by NBC News, the timing was suspicious enough for health officials to look at whether …

Reminder: Kids Aren’t Immune to Pandemic-Related Depression and Anxiety

JUCM News has featured data on increases in depression and anxiety among adults over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as alarming news about burnout among healthcare providers. Lost in the discussion up to this point has been relevant clinical literature about how children are faring—which is to say, not good, according to a new article published by JAMA Pediatrics. Even before the pandemic took hold in 2019, the piece points out, nearly …

Update: CDC Data Amplify the Need for Further Immunization to Stave Off COVID-19 Surges

On the heels of news that the Food and Drug Administration had authorized a second booster for many individuals vaccinated against COVID-19, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest that patients who got the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine would be well advised to get a booster with either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. The Food and Drug Administration had just authorized a second vaccine boost for specific groups of Americans, based …

At Least Some Lawmakers See Urgent Care as a Resource for Improving Mental Health Care

Just a few weeks ago, we shared the news that Arizona, New Jersey, and South Dakota have all seen addition of walk-in mental health centers in various communities. Now New Jersey state legislators are aiming to put state resources into ensuring such opportunities become more readily available—with existing urgent care centers a key part of the plan. As reported by NJ.com, one of six bills being proposed takes aim at the high number of patients …

Different Study, Same Results: Ivermectin Is Not Helpful in Treating COVID-19

Whether it’s been suspect science, desperation borne of fear, or even devotion to a popular podcaster, many patients across the U.S. have clamored for the federal government, payers, and clinicians to adopt ivermectin as a go-to therapeutic agent to treat COVID-19. When even the physician who started the fervor with a small nonscientific study ultimately disavowed his own findings, conspiracy theorists continued to tout the narrative that dark forces were withholding the one true solution …

Vigilance for Signs of COVID-19 Is (Still) Essential for Minimizing Risk in Young Children

Many families, and probably some clinicians, have relied on the notion that COVID-19 poses less risk for serious outcomes in young children than it does for adults. The problem is, that idea has been shown in multiple studies and data sets to be exaggerated. Now a new study published by Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report adds more evidence that vigilance may be more important than ever, considering the ongoing emergence of new variants and uncertain …

The Calendar Says Peak Flu Season Is Over. The Data Say Otherwise

On paper, at this time of year, we expect to see incidence of seasonal influenza declining steadily from its December–February peak in the United States. Instead, however, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that flu activity is actually increasing across most of the country. This reverses a decline from mid-December through January. As recently as March 12 of this year, nearly 7% of all respiratory specimens tested at clinical labs turned up positive …