Perspectives

Claire Katen; Cindy Lockett, MD It is well documented that Americans’ overall health lags behind that of other nations with the United States ranking 46th in life expectancy globally.1 This disparity is likely driven by multiple factors with limited access to healthcare services playing a significant role.2 As a premedical student, I, like many aspiring and active healthcare professionals, would like to close healthcare gaps and contribute to improving patient health outcomes. The urgent care provides a unique opportunity to positively impact patients as it may be their sole healthcare …
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Hal P. Kramer, MD After 41 years of clinical medicine, 2025 became my “physician, heal thyself” year. I became a patient with a story. Without challenge or feedback, many of us continue to repeat the same physical exams for a variety of complaints. We all develop our tools of the trade. However, we must remember that medicine is never all-known. Old ways can lead to new ways with a questioning and inquisitive mind. How many patients have I treated while in the Navy, emergency departments, urgent cares, and private practice? …
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Lisa H. Bishop It’s a familiar story. A friend was recently on vacation and visited a small, rural “urgent care” with a 2-day history of nasal congestion and a scratchy throat—no fever, no sinus tenderness, and a reassuring exam. She left with 4 prescriptions: a Z-Pak, a Medrol Dose Pack, a narcotic cough syrup, and Diflucan, “just in case the antibiotic causes yeast.” She reached out to me, concerned that she received 4 prescriptions for a common cold. This meant 4 unnecessary costs and 4 opportunities for side effects and …
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Adrienne Freese, RN, BSN, is a charge nurse at Denver Health’s Peña Urgent Care in Denver, Colorado. For a patient, what’s worse than having a violent case of diarrhea? Obtaining an employer-required sick note proving said diarrhea. Do we, as healthcare workers, watch our patients on the toilet for evidence of diarrhea? Thankfully we don’t. Unlike our patients’ employers, we take our patients’ word for it. A sick note may seem like a benign issue, but it is surprisingly and unfortunately more complicated. There are policy issues, patient barriers and …
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Patrick O’Malley, MD; Albert Botchway, PhD; Laurel Stoimenoff, PT (ret.); and Lindsey E. Fish, MD, on behalf of the College of Urgent Care Medicine Over the past 15 years, there have been significant changes in urgent care (UC) medicine. First and foremost, this is a rapidly expanding field of medicine as urgent care centers now provide more than 200 million visits a year performed in more than 14,000 locations. Additionally, urgent care centers have transitioned from 54% physician owners to only 27% physician owners over the same time period.1 Urgent …
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