Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Emergency Medicine Workers Emotionally Exhausted

A recent study of emergency medicine healthcare workers at a large urban medical center investigated the link between sleep disturbance, burnout, and emotional exhaustion. Published in JAMA Network Open, the study found that poor sleep quality increased the likelihood of elevated emotional exhaustion by 2.45 times, and insomnia symptoms were also associated with a more than doubling of emotional exhaustion. The research was conducted between November 2020 and January 2022, involving 126 workers who completed …

AAFP Highlights Urgent Care’s Role in ‘Emergency’ Medicine

Regardless of the setting in which they practice, urgent care clinicians play a crucial role in emergency medicine, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians—so much so that AAFP officially renamed one of its subgroups the Member Interest Group Emergency Medicine/Urgent Care (MIG EM/UC). In a new review article published in the current issue of Annals of Family Medicine, Banks, et al note that a “persistent shortages of residency-trained emergency physicians” creates a need …

A Defense of Family Medicine or an Indictment of Emergency Medicine?

I expected a firm retort from our colleagues in academic and traditional family medicine with regard to my column Is Urgent Care “Real” Family Medicine? (JUCM, October 2008). Unexpectedly, however, the column brought concern from one of our urgent care colleagues with roots in emergency medicine. In his letter—excerpts from which are presented here—Dr. Bryan Dunn of Boerne/Bulverde Urgent Care in Texas writes: “Your editorial came across as a slap in the face to emergency …