Practice Management
A 55-year-old female presents to urgent care with a few weeks of a mildly pruritic rash on her trunk and arms. On examination, there are scattered erythematous, fine, scaly plaques. The coin-like plaques are round or oval in configuration and affect her extremities symmetrically. The patient denies current medications or any personal or family history of dermatologic conditions. She reports no systemic symptoms. However, she shares that she has been taking longer and more frequent …
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An 18-year-old male presents to urgent care with widespread abdominal “gas pain” for several days. He denies changes in diet or changes in bowel habits. However, he recalls having a hard collision with another player during a lacrosse game prior to onset of symptoms. View the image taken and consider what your diagnosis and next steps would be. Resolution of the case is described on the next page.
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The patient is a 10-year-old girl who presents to urgent care with 3 days of fever, headache, muscle aches, nausea, and a skin rash. She has a temperature of 102°F. On examination you find numerous erythematous macules and purpura on her palms and the soles of her feet. The patient is immunocompetent with an unremarkable medical history. Her mother recounts no recent travel from their home in North Carolina, but notes that the patient spent …
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The patients is a 58-year-old male who presents with chest pain. He describes it as sharp, lasting seconds, and worsened by lifting objects at work. Review the initial ECG taken and consider what your diagnosis and next steps could be. Resolution of the case is described on the next page. (Case presented by Tom Fadial, MD, Assistant Professor, McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Sciences Center of Houston.)
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The patient is a 46-year-old male with a history of hypertension and congestive heart failure who presents complaining of his defibrillator firing—twice yesterday and once today. He denies chest pain, shortness of breath, fever, nausea or vomiting. He ran out of his carvedilol about 1 month ago. View the initial ECG and consider what your diagnosis and next steps would be.
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The patient is an 81-year-old female with past medical history of atrial fibrillation on apixaban who presents to urgent care after a syncopal episode 30 minutes prior to arrival. The patient felt lightheaded while being pushed in her wheelchair and then lost consciousness. There was no trauma. She returned to baseline approximately 2 minutes after the event. There was no seizure activity. The patient denied associated chest pain, shortness of breath, headache, urinary or fecal …
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A mother brings her 13-year-old daughter to your urgent care center with a complaint of fever, chills, dry cough, and myalgia for 3 days. On exam, the patient is febrile (101°F). In addition, there is conjunctival injection and blanching erythematous patches on the face and neck. The mother mentions that the family returned from a trip to Brazil 10 days prior. While traveling they ate local food, drank local (unfiltered) water, sustained a few mosquito …
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The patient is a 30-year-old male who presents with 2 days of difficulty swallowing and what he calls a painful “bump” on the right side of his neck. View the images taken and consider what your diagnosis and next steps would be. Resolution of the case is described on the next page.
Read MoreChamber Abnormalities: Pathologic or Not? A 27-year-old male with no reported medical history presents with chest pain. He relays several weeks of intermittent symptoms which started after lifting heavy boxes. The pain is sharp, located in the mid-chest and is otherwise non-tearing, non-pleuritic, non-positional and not associated with exertion. On examination, the patient is in no acute distress, and appears lean without cachexia or wasting. The pain is reproduced with shoulder extension. It resolves with …
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The patient is a 68-year-old woman who presents with a rash she says developed on her trunk over a span of several weeks. On examination, there were multiple confluent, orange-red plaques on the trunk and arms with “islands of sparing” within them. The rash had a primarily truncal distribution and was pruritic. She was feeling well otherwise. View the image and consider what your next steps and diagnosis would be. Resolution of the case is …
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