Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Flexibility on Management’s Part May Help Stave Off Burnout in Providers

Urgent care, by nature, is a fast-paced practice setting; patients come to your practice because they don’t feel like they can wait to see a primary care provider, after all. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the pace can take its toll, especially on the clinical staff. Providers can reach the point of burnout if they’re not careful. Now, Practice Velocity has a few suggestions that might help, put forth in a blog …

Onc Journal Advocates Trying to Keep Cancer Patients Out of the ED

The emergency room presents bit of a paradox for many cancer patients, according to a new article published in the journal Oncology Nurse Advisor: A trip to the ED is risky for anyone with a compromised immune system—which would apply to many oncology patients—but at the same time cancer and related treatment can cause a seemingly endless list of complications that require immediate attention. “Visiting the ED is often a portal to hospitalization for these …

Optimizing EHR Functions May Help Prevent Physician Burnout

Long hours, an overabundance of bureaucratic tasks, and perceived lack of respect from coworkers and administrators are the perfect recipe for physician burnout, if Medscape’s 2018 Physician Burnout and Depression Report is to be believed. Another source cited—increasing reliance on electronic health records—may also be the gateway to reducing the risk for burnout, however, according to a new article published online by Advisory Board. The difference between an EHR’s potential to be a burden or …

Urgent Care Operators Can Help Reduce Elder Abuse—Here’s How

Urgent care providers have become more attuned to signs of potential child abuse, realizing that the parents responsible might be nervous taking a child they’ve injured to their “regular” pediatrician. Visiting an urgent care center where the family may not be known can provide a false sense of security that the true nature of a child’s injuries would go unrecognized. There’s tons of information telling providers what to do about those suspicions, as well. We …

Theft and Diversion of Opiates Are Ongoing Concerns for Urgent Care Operators

It isn’t enough for urgent care clinicians to be more judicious in prescribing opiates for patients in pain. A seamless approach to medication security also has to be in place in order to thwart crooked workers looking to make a quick buck on the backs of addicts in need of a fix. A case in southwest Florida is a painful reminder that anyone with access to addictive drugs could land your business in trouble and …

Study Lists Ways to Ensure a Positive Experience for Kids with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Children wind up in the urgent care center when they’re not at their best—sickly, often cranky, and not necessarily in the most compliant frame of mind. And that’s “typical” kids. The challenges can increase exponentially for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). How staff and clinicians deal with the patient and family in the urgent care center or emergency room can make all the difference in the world, though, facilitating a better clinical experience and …

Long Wait Times Turn Patients into Former Patients

With patients having more choices of healthcare providers—and settings—than ever before, understanding what drives them to a given location can mean the difference between success and going out of business. In fact, one out of five patient participants in Vitals’ ninth annual Physician Wait Time Report say they’ve switched physicians specifically because of long wait times. Even more (30%) have walked out on an appointment because they were made to wait too long. The cost …

Is it Time to Retire the Pain Scale?

Depending on who you listen to, responsibility for the opioid crisis in the United States lies with “Big Pharma,” physicians, patients, insurance companies…all of which is true to some extent. It’s a complex problem borne out of a legitimate need to help ease the pain of patients who are suffering. However, a new KevinMD blog post suggests that removing a very noncomplex tool—the pain scale—from patient interactions may be a big step in rebooting how …

New Data Highlight Where Clinicians Can Focus on Controllable Risk Factors

Data published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association point to a need for all clinicians to focus on controllable risk factors for disease and mortality. For urgent care clinicians, that may mean being assertive in probing for patient habits that could be contributing factors related to their presenting to you on a given day. The article points out wide differences in the burden of disease from state to state, attributed to key …

Tread Lightly When Commenting on Other Clinicians’ Capabilities—or Face the Consequences

Honest, respectful feedback can spur subordinates, superiors, and coworkers to do their best work. Comments that could be perceived as overly critical or, especially, bullying are both divisive and potentially harmful to all parties concerned, however. A recent blog post on the website DoctorDiscourse illustrates this in painful detail. It recounts how three physicians at three unrelated facilities lost their jobs or believe they were “blackballed” for seeming to discount the contributions or capabilities of …