Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

FDA Appeals Directly to Physicians on Curbing Access to Opioids

The FDA may have limited authority to reduce the number of opioid medications in circulation at any given time, but its commissioner, Scott Gottlieb, MD, is appealing to urgent care physicians, and prescribers everywhere, to take action. For starters, he said, the agency would like to construct “expert guidelines” informed by the medical community, with the idea that those guidelines could ultimately be reflected in drug labeling (over with the FDA does have authority). Speaking …

FDA’s Gottlieb Wants More Rigorous Standards for Prescribing Opiates

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD says his agency needs to do more to help stem the opioid-addiction epidemic in the United Sates. For starters, he wants the FDA to impose stricter guidelines for prescribing immediate-release opioid drugs. The first step will be for the agency to expand training for physicians, nurses, and other providers who administer immediate-release opioids. While there is already training available, the FDA says it will now broaden information …

FDA Says Providers Should Get Their Chi Together

The Food and Drug Administration—not considered to be strong advocates of new-age approaches to medicine, typically—suggested recently that alternative and holistic therapies like acupuncture and chiropractors can play an important role in managing pain for patients. It’s actually part of the FDA’s ongoing plan to reduce the need for opioid pain medications in the U.S. The agency recommends that healthcare providers “become more familiar with alternative therapies for treating pain, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, …

FDA Warns Operators on Battery-Powered Medical Carts

The Food and Drug Administration says battery-powered medical carts are to blame for a series of fires in facilities across the country, leading the agency to publish a warning letter recommending that all medical offices, including urgent care centers, take preventive measures. While the size of some carts makes their use prohibitive in many urgent care locations, larger centers, such as those that might be affiliated with a healthcare system, that use such systems are …

False Positives Common with Some Zika Tests, FDA Warns

Urgent care clinicians have been told to test, or refer for testing, pregnant patients who could have been exposed to Zika virus (or had sexual relations with a partner would could have been exposed). Now the Food and Drug Administration says some such patients could have tested positive for Zika even though they don’t actually have not been infected. LabCorp’s ZIKV Detect test, specifically, should not be relied on to make “significant patient management decisions,” …

FDA: Wave Goodbye to Powdered Exam Gloves

We told you months ago the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was assessing the viability and wisdom of banning use of powdered gloves in operating rooms and, more applicable to urgent care operators and clinicians, exam rooms. Now the agency says it has gathered sufficient evidence to publish a final rule banning the gloves, as well as absorbable powder for lubricating rubber gloves, due to “present an unreasonable and substantial risk of illness or injury. …

FDA Advises to Stop Administering Sterile Products from Medaus

The Food and Drug Administration is asking healthcare professionals to stop administering drug products intended to be sterile that were made by Medaus Inc. due to a lack of sterility assurance. Providers in all settings, including urgent care, are urged to check their supplies and quarantine any “sterile” products from Medaus. Some of the drugs (eg, injectable nutritional products) are more likely to be found in urgent care centers than others, such as injectable hormone …

FDA Panel Calls for Mandatory Opioid Training

Physicians who prescribe opioid pain medications would have to undergo a higher level of specific training under a guidance recommended by a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel. In response to a perceived epidemic of opioid addiction and related deaths, the panel voted unanimously to advice requiring more education about the drugs’ risks. The panel’s vote was unanimous, but not binding—though the FDA does often follow recommendations made by its outside expert panels.

FDA Wants Some Gloves to Take a Powder

The Food and Drug Administration wants to ban most powdered gloves from exam rooms, as well as operating rooms. The ban would apply to powdered surgeon’s gloves, powdered patient examination gloves, and absorbable powder for lubricating a surgeon’s glove. The FDA says the risk that synthetic proteins in the gloves can cause airway inflammation, wound inflammation, and postprocedure adhesions is too great to allow their continued use. If finalized, the ban would force withdrawal of …