Practice Management
Urgent message: Diagnosing UTI in a child is challenging in the urgent care setting. Fever, abdominal or back pain, frequency or new onset of incontinence all should raise your index of suspicion. KIMBERLY GIBSON, MD Cases such as the following are common in urgent care and they present unique challenges: J.S., a 2-year-old girl, presents to an urgent care clinic on a Saturday afternoon for evaluation of low-grade fever and fussiness. Her parents have been …
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Urgent message: Symptoms from stones in the ureter can mimic other conditions, making for a diagnostic dilemma in urgent care. Imaging is the key to accurate assessment and appropriate treatment. WILLIAM GLUCKMAN, DO, MBA, FACEP and KATE ABERGER, MD Ureterolithiasis, which literally translates to stones in the ureter, is sometimes referred to improperly as “kidney stones,” which are properly known as nephrolithiasis. Although stones do form within the kidney, they do not typically cause acute …
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Urgent message: For patients, cosmesis is often the top priority. But for clinicians, ruling out serious or life-threatening injury is paramount. Sean McNeeley, MD Introduction Patients with oral and related facial injuries often present to urgent care providers. Consider JT. He is 25-year-old male who was taken to an urgent care clinic by his friends after falling while mountain biking near his Ohio home. His friends were concerned because the hill was steep, and although …
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Urgent message: That back pain is common and typically without serious sequelae may result in misdiagnosis and mistreatment. ERICA MARSHBURN, BS, BA, AND JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP Many high-risk conditions can present as back pain, is a very frequent presenting complaint in urgent care medicine. Most back pain is muscular in origin and responds well to conservative intervention. However, because of the frequency of the complaint and infrequency of serious sequelae, providers may …
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Urgent message: As the population of seniors swells, more cases of senile dementia, delirium, and psychosis are apt to present in urgent care. Here is how to assess and manage altered mental status patients in the urgent care setting. RAUL E. RODON, MD Introduction Evaluating patients presenting with altered mental status in the urgent care setting requires a modified skill set, one that varies from the assessment of patients with a similar profile in a …
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Urgent message: The patients most prone to sexually transmitted diseases are also mostly likely not to have a primary doctor. Many will turn to urgent care for help. THOMAS SUNSHINE, MD, FACOG As urgent care physicians, we often are presented with patients who are worried that they may have a sexually transmitted disease or infection (STD/I). The number of yearly visits is difficult to estimate because the diagnosis codes of the visits vary. The Center …
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