Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Make Sure You Understand the Implications of COVID-19 on Immunization as Kids Head Back to School

Back-to-school time typically means parents are scrambling to make sure their children’s immunization status is current. This year, of course, how (or even if) schools should reopen is a hotly debated issue in many communities. Regardless of how that controversy works out in your neck of the woods, you have to be prepared to administer needed vaccines—and to answer questions. Anticipating this, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has produced a Vaccination Guidance During …

Caring for the Homeless During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Shelter at home. Wash your hands. Use a tissue and properly dispose it. See your primary care if you are not feeling well. The advice goes on and on. But what if you are homeless? What if you do not have ready access to soap and water, or hand sanitizer, or tissues, or medical care? Universally, efforts to contain and mitigate pandemic diseases such as COVID-19 leave out a vulnerable population: people experiencing homelessness (PEH). …

A 40-Year-Old Man with Cough and Fever During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The patient is a 40-year-old man who presents with cough and fever. Living and working in New York City as cases of COVID-19 were on a steep incline, he acknowledges multiple exposures to individuals who could have been infected with the virus. Similarly, he reports that a close friend had the flu recently. View the x-ray and consider what your diagnosis and next steps would be.

COVID-19 Considerations in the Urgent Care Clinic

COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) has swept the country and world in rapid and unprecedented fashion. While much of the news coverage and scientific studies have focused on hospital needs and demands, as well as patient care in hospital settings, urgent care (UC) clinics remain on the front lines too. In fact, many UC clinics are seeing an increase in demand from patients with COVID-19 symptoms. Additional patient volume increases may come from changes in operations at other …

The CDC Warns the Current Pandemic Crisis May Be Just the Opening Act

Even as some states report that the much-discussed “curve” is actually starting to flatten, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns against perceiving that to mean the worst is over for the U.S. CDC Director Robert Redfield, MD suggested that a second wave could actually be worse than this one if it occurs in the fall, just as the next influenza season is getting started—which some health officials and researchers say is a distinct …

Abstracts in Urgent Care April 2020

COVID-19: The Long View Quarantine Duration in Suspected COVID-19 Bedside Ultrasound Use with COVID-19 Fluoroquinolones and Arrhythmia Isopropyl Alcohol and Nausea Relief Patient Preferences Re: the ED vs Urgent Care The Nuts and Bolts of COVID-19 Key Points: Most patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19 experience mild URI symptoms; however, the virus tends to cause disproportionately severe illness in older and chronically ill adults. Treatment is only …

Prescribing Pharmacists: Cheaper and More Accessible Than Urgent Care?

Urgent message: As states move forward with legislation enabling pharmacists to prescribe, not just dispense, the urgent care industry must consider the implications on competition, collaboration and public health. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Chief Executive Officer of Velocity Urgent Care and is Practice Management Editor of The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine. On February 11, 2020, the Virginia legislature passed bills HB 1506 and SB 1026, respectively, enabling pharmacists to prescribe medications, not …

Patients Are Considering Whether They Really Need to Visit a Healthcare Facility; Could This Be Telemedicine’s Moment?

It’s typical at some point during the flu season for hospitals to re-emphasize that patients should consider going to an urgent care center if they have symptoms of influenza, reserving the ED for truly emergent cases. The COVID-19 pandemic is taking that dynamic to a whole new level, as urgent care centers themselves are wrestling with ways to provide care without inviting in highly contagious people. This begs the question, is this crisis telemedicine’s time …

‘Occupational Exposure’ to COVID-19

Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Chief Executive Officer of Velocity Urgent Care and is Practice Management Editor of The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine. Urgent Message: Exposure to coronavirus by an urgent care provider or staff can lead to absence from work, unplanned medical expenses, and invoke short-term disability. Take precautions and create a business infectious disease outbreak response plan that you can share with everyone at your facilities. “Wash your hands!” Anytime you …

Is Florida Looking to Cast Pharmacists as Primary Care Providers?

We told you recently about pending legislation in Virginia that would enable pharmacists to prescribe—not just dispense—medications for certain conditions, such as strep throat and influenza. Now comes news that Florida is working on legislation, Senate Bill 714, that would empower pharmacists to essentially conduct a primary care provider-style patient visit for flu. If it becomes law, a patient with flu-like symptoms could go to a drugstore, be given an instant lab test in the …