Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Real-World Validation of Rapid PCR Strep Testing in Urgent Care

Urgent Message: The diagnosis of bacterial pharyngitis is often difficult. Rapid polymerase chain reaction testing has potential to improve diagnostic certainty. Despite high accuracy rates, many urgent care providers continue to seek confirmation by throat culture. Justin Bowles, MD, Supreet Ghumman, MS4 Citation: Bowles J, Ghumman S. Real world validation of rapid PCR strep testing in urgent care. J Urgent Care Med. 2023;18(2):15-21 Key Words: bacterial pharyngitis; PCR testing Abstract Introduction: Point-of-care polymerase chain reaction …

Abstracts in Urgent Care November 2023

What Should We Do with the Nail? Nailbed Repair in Children Take Home Point: After nail bed repair, discarding the fingernail was associated with similar rates of infection and similar cosmetic outcomes compared to replacement of the fingernail. Citation: Jain A, Grieg A, Jones A, et al. Effectiveness of nail bed repair in children with or without replacing the fingernail: NINJA multicentre randomized clinical trial. BJS, 2023, 110, 432–438 https://doi.org/10.1093/bjs/znad031 Relevance: Procedures for nail bed …

Differentiating Acute Conjunctivitis Presentations in Children

Urgent message: Make the distinction between viral and bacterial conjunctivitis to ensure children receive appropriate treatment and to avoid the negative consequences of antibiotic overuse. Julian P. Ponsetto MD, Momoko K. Ponsetto MD Citation: Ponsetto JP, Ponsetto MK. Differentiating acute conjunctivitis presentations in children. J Urgent Care Med. 2023;17(11):15-20. Infectious conjunctivitis or “pink eye” is common in the pediatric population, accounting for 2.7% of diagnoses in pediatric urgent care.1 However, it can be difficult to …

Consider Follow-Up Screening for Hypertension Among COVID-19 Patients

A retrospective study of 45,000 patient records presented in Hypertension found an association between the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the development of hypertension among adults who had no past history of high blood pressure. It’s unknown if the virus could be triggering the development of hypertension or worsening preexisting hypertension, according to the study’s lead author. But the association is significant. Among the records, 21% of those hospitalized with COVID-19 developed high blood pressure. By comparison, only 16% …

Innovation and Sustainability: Urgent Care Run School-Based Health Centers Improve Community Health

Urgent message: By leveraging grant funding, community-facing services, and a collaborative model with school districts, QUICKmed Urgent Care operates a successful school-based health center model. This innovative approach addresses healthcare gaps in underserved areas and augments the operator’s core business. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc QUICKmed Urgent Care, based in Youngstown, OH, is a prominent provider in the state’s Northeast region. Its 12 traditional urgent care centers are an important resource for the communities it …

Abstracts in Urgent Care – September 2023

How Long Should We Prescribe Antibiotics for Pediatric UTI? Take-Home Point: Children receiving 5 days of antibiotics for urinary tract infection (UTI) had a higher rate of treatment failure that children receiving 10-day courses. However, absolute treatment failure rates were low in both groups. Citation: Zaoutis T, Shaikh N, Fisher B, et. al. Short-Course Therapy for Urinary Tract Infections in Children: The SCOUT Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Pediatr. 2023 Jun 26; e231979. Relevance: There have …

Is a Midsummer Bump in COVID-19 Hospitalizations a Harbinger of Another Tough Winter?

The midpoint of summer saw the steepest increase on COVID-19 since December 2022, leading some public health authorities and academics to wonder aloud whether we could see another tripledemic—simultaneous, high rates of COVID, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus—as winter approaches. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hospitalizations for COVID-19 jumped 10.3% in the week ending July 15. Emergency room visits were also up for the week ending July 21. Given …

Abstracts in Urgent Care – July/August 2023

Download the article PDF: Abstracts in Urgent Care – July/August 2023 Lyme Disease Diagnosis in Children of Different Racial Groups Take-home point: Black children with Lyme disease were more likely to have arthritis rather than cutaneous findings at the time of diagnosis. Citation: Hunt K, Michelson K, Balamuth M, et al. Racial differences in the diagnosis of Lyme disease in children. Clin Infect Dis. 2023;76(6):1129-1131. Relevance: Erythema migrans (EM) is commonly felt to represent the …

COVID-19 and RSV: Coinfection Requiring Hospitalization

Urgent message: Coinfection with COVID-19 and other respiratory pathogens can lead to a worsening clinical picture and requires careful assessment in the urgent care center. Marcia Taylor, MD, MSCR, FAAFP Citation: Taylor M. COVID-19 and RSV: coinfection requiring hospitalization. J Urgent Care Med. 2023;17(10):28-29. Key words: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, RSV, coinfection, pandemic ABSTRACT Patients who present with symptoms suspicious for COVID-19 and other respiratory conditions, regardless of vaccination status, may require a higher acuity of medical …

Downtime

It’s a weird time right now, isn’t it? On one hand, visit volumes seem to be back to our pre-COVID “norms.” This should be business-as-usual to us, but it feels scary because everyone got used to volumes being so high for so long. On the other hand, everyone is short-staffed, so it’s a good thing we aren’t busier, but being short-staffed is also scary because we feel unprepared for the coming months when volumes go …

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