Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

CDC Offers More Guidance on Antibiotic Use in Outpatient Settings

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been very active in pushing for more responsible antibiotic prescribing lately. Now they’ve issued more formal direction in the form of guidelines for antibiotic prescribing in outpatient settings, offering four stewardship “pillars” for prescribers to follow. CDC’s Core Elements of Outpatient Antibiotic Stewardship, published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), recommends that outpatient facilities like urgent care centers demonstrate dedication to and accountability for optimizing …

Outpatient Management of Opioid Dependence in Urgent Care

Urgent message: Urgent care physicians may be well positioned to play a role in stemming the national epidemic of opioid dependence, providing much needed care for patients and adding a new facet to their own clinical practice. By Paolo T. Coppola, MD, FACEP and Matthew I. Salzberg Introduction The DSM-IV-TR defines dependence as “a cluster of cognitive, behavioral, and physiologic symptoms that indicate a person has impaired control of psychoactive substance use and continues use of …