Cold Weather-related Injuries
Urgent message: Inadequate protection from the cold can put a patient’s life and limb at risk. The urgent care clinician must be able to identify symptoms of specific conditions, using the history and awareness of weather conditions to distinguish among the most common. Introduction    Winter months provide ample opportunities for recreation such as skiing, sledding, or snowmobiling – and for an array of injuries related to varying degrees of exposure to lower temperatures. Generally, the …
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November 2010
Assessment and Management of Scrotal Disorders
Urgent message: Males with a scrotal disorder often present to urgent care with pain, swelling, or both. Especially in boys and young men, it is important to quickly assess the acute scrotum, which can be a surgical emergency. Jason Chao, MD, MS Introduction Males with a scrotal disorder often present with pain, swelling, — or both. Because of the location of the problem, patients often choose to seek urgent medical attention. Especially in boys and …
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October 2010
September 2010
Providing DOT Medical Certification Exams for Commercial Drivers
Urgent message: The Department of Transportation’s responsibility to ensure that commercial drivers are physically qualified to operate in interstate commerce can mean new business for urgent care providers who qualify to perform certification exams. Ellison H. Wittels, MD, FACP The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) – one of nine operating administrations within the United States Department of Transportation (DOT; Table 1) – is tasked with regulating commercial trucks and buses in interstate commerce. That …
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July/August 2010
Tuberculosis Screening in Urgent Care Medicine
Urgent message: Often placed in the role of first-line clinicians with respect to testing for and treating infectious disease, urgent care practitioners are ideally suited to provide screening services for tuberculosis. Introduction In addition to urgent care services, many of us also offer occupational medicine and provide post-offer/pre-employment evaluations. As such, urgent care clinicians play a key role in screening for tuberculosis (TB). In fact, understanding the complexity of the screening process is essential to …
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Asthma in the Pediatric Population: An Urgent Care Approach
Urgent message: though sometimes viewed as an easily controlled disease, asthma can become a medical emergency quickly. It is important for the urgent care clinician to be able to recognize the signs of a potentially life-threatening asthma exacerbation – and know how to treat it accordingly. Muhammad Waseem, MD, Nicholas Caputo, MD, Geeta Krishna, MD, Joel Gernsheimer, MD Introduction Asthma is an episodic and reversible airflow obstruction. It is the most common chronic disease in …
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