Practice Management
A 37-year-old woman without a significant past medical history presents after 3 days of a cough that produces yellow sputum with some streaks of blood. She has not checked her temperature but says she has “felt warm” and has some chills. She does have associated shortness of breath, but she reports that she has not had chest pain, leg pain or swelling, sweating, or headache. She has a history of hypertension, and she takes an …
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Get Smart About Antibiotics Week 2015 offers an opportunity for urgent care center management to get the word out about both their own services and the importance of responsible antibiotic use. With more than a third of urgent care centers in the US writing between 73 and 144 prescriptions for antibiotics each month, clinicians are all too familiar with the patient who shows up looking for a Z-Pak …
Read MoreSigns of aging and risk of heart disease Key point: Some outward signs of aging may correlate with increased risk of heart disease including MI. Citation: Christoffersen M, Frikke-Schmidt R, Schnohr P, et al. Visible age-related signs and risk of ischemic heart disease in the general population: A prospective cohort study. Circulation. 2014;4l128(9):990-998. Investigators in Denmark in this 35-year prospective trial attempted to see if outward signs of aging (frontoparietal baldness, crown top baldness, earlobe crease, …
Read MorePyuria Poor Predictor of UTI in Nephrolithiasis Key point: Classic symptoms and urine culture are the best indicators of infection in patients with acute nephrolithiasis. Pyuria proved a poor predictor. Citation: Abrahamian FM, Krishnadasan A, Mower WR, Moran GJ, Talan DA. Association of pyuria and clinical characteristics with the presence of urinary tract infection among patients with acute nephrolithiasis. Ann Emerg Med 2013;62(5):526-533. Infection can complicate the diagnosis of acute nephrolithiasis. Patients with both a …
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