Availability of basic x-ray capabilities differentiates urgent care centers from walk-in primary-care and retail clinics, which lack such capabilities. According to an analysis of nearly 50,000 patient encounters by Practice Velocity and Teleradiology Specialists, approximately 11% of urgent care visits require an x-ray. The top 10 views, summarized here by Current Procedural Technology (CPT) codes, account for 86% of urgent care x-rays. (Note: The top 10 views include 11 views because of the equal percentage of …
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A 4-Year-Old Who Fell from the Slide
Urgent message: Injuries sustained in playground falls are common presentations to emergency departments and urgent care centers alike. The urgent care physician should be alert to the keys to evaluation and management of traumatic neck pain. Muhammad Waseem, MD, Lalithambal Venugopalan, MD, and Gerard Devas, MD Cervical spine (C-spine) injuries occur infrequently in children. This is especially true for fractures of atlas vertebra, which is a rare injury in children. Its diagnosis may easily be …
Read MoreClinical Challenge 2: April, 2007
The patient is a 25-year-old male who presented to urgent care after falling from a height of two stories, landing flat on his feet. He is able to ambulate, though only with pain. In addition, he complains of back pain. He is generally healthy, and no neurological deficit was found. View the x-ray taken (Figure 1) and consider what your next steps would be. Resolution of the case is described on the next page.
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