Practice Management
Though the rate of prescriptions for opioids has fallen over the past 7 years, more than one third of all adults in the U.S. were prescribed a narcotic pain medication in 2015. Worse, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), around 5% of the population is misusing opioids—eg, by not following directions or taking them without a prescription at all (having received them from family or friends in 41% of those cases). Around …
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Lots of families are just heading out for summer vacation these days, which means they probably haven’t even considered whether children have all the vaccinations they need before going back to school. That gives you the perfect opportunity to remind them. The next time a child comes in for care, make sure you know their vaccine status—and what’s required based on their age, guidelines, and state law. Helping patients understand your role as a public …
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Barely more than a third of children brought to an urgent care center or emergency room with anaphylaxis have received epinephrine before arriving, according to a new study published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology. According to the report, which reflects the cases of 408 children with an average age of 7.25 years, just 36% of the patients had received epinephrine before reporting to an urgent care center or ED. The odds were …
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We see lots of public service announcements and signs every summer warning against the dangers of locking pets in hot cars. Less publicized are the everyday dangers of people sweating profusely in extreme heat without drinking enough water. Providence Urgent Care noted that with an advisory to residents around its locations, and garnered media attention in the Spokane, WA area in the process. Revealing that they see patients with symptoms of dehydration much more frequently …
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The University of Colorado Cancer Center in Aurora, CO has quantified just how much urgent care can contribute to the overall health of patients with cancer—and it’s considerable. The Clinical Assessment and Rapid Evaluation (CARE) Clinic within the cancer center helped keep 21% of cancer patients out of the emergency room, generating over $176,000 in revenue over a period of 7 months. There’s no telling how many potentially serious complications were prevented by saving immunocompromised …
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Four additional hours in a shift makes a big difference to busy nurses, according to new data published in the Journal of Nursing Education and Practice. Nurses working 12-hour shifts are more likely than those who put in 8 hours to experience anxiety, musculoskeletal disorders, disturbed sleep, and stress. The metaanalysis focused on 12 studies. The authors concluded that it was not so much the mere act of working for 12 hours, but the prolonged …
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Summer vacation just started, but it won’t be long before college students are getting ready to head back to campus. With mumps cases continuing to be reported at Harvard University, among other schools, reminders that patients need to ensure they’re up to date on vaccinations should be considered in every patient who comes into your urgent care center. Harvard has seen a resurgence in mumps cases over the past year. In spring 2016, there were …
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Add adolescent concussion to the growing list of conditions for which telemedicine can be useful, in terms of effectiveness, cost, and satisfaction scores, according to data presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. Researchers employed a nurse practitioner-led, remote assessment of young athletes (13–18 years of age) with concussions, in conjunction with in-person athletic trainers. The most common positive feedback involved the accessibility of the program from any location, notably …
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The U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission tells us we can expect a spike in emergency room visits on or around the Independence Day holiday next week. If you’ve done a good job of alerting your community to the fact that many ED-bound patients could be treated just as well (not to mention faster and less expensively) in your urgent care center, that means you can expect to see more traffic, too. Make sure your holiday …
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The ink is barely dry on agreements allowing more telemedicine than ever before, but there are indications that some corners of the healthcare marketplace are already moving on toward The Next Big Thing: text-based medical encounters. A Denver-based startup called CirrusMD has pulled together $7 million in capital it plans to devote to expanding what’s thought to be the industry’s first “text-first” workflow. CirrusMD has cut its teeth on working with large health systems and …
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