Practice Management
Last spring, a global outbreak of mpox (formerly known as “monkey pox”) spread to 110 countries. Cases in the United States as of last month have reached a total of 30,767, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Meanwhile, researchers have found that a newly developed point-of-care assay for the rapid detection of the mpox virus has the potential for use in “low-resource and remote settings,” allowing for rapid point-of-care diagnosis. The results …
Read More
Researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio found a disturbing number of preventable mistakes made by parents and caregivers involving medications given to children for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The most common error (54%) was accidental double dosing. What’s more concerning is that the rate of errors in giving kids ADHD medications has risen significantly over the past two decades. From 2000 through 2021, errors increased by almost 300%. Kids between the ages 6 and …
Read More
A bill that has found its way through the California Legislature aims to raise minimum wages for healthcare workers. Those who work in urgent care centers are specifically called out in measures included in SB 525. Governor Gavin Newsome has until October 14 to sign or veto the bill. According to Cal Matters, the amended version of the policy has the support of the state’s hospital association, employers, and labor groups. How it rolls out: …
Read More
About 3% of patients leave emergency departments (EDs) without being seen, according to a federal data set that was summarized in Becker’s Hospital Review. State information analyzed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) demonstrates the variability in wait times in the ED before patients leave. Patients in North Dakota walk out after a median wait time of 108 minutes—the shortest time span. By comparison, patients in Washington, D.C., wait a median of …
Read More
New state laws have expanded the scope of practice for pharmacists, allowing consumers to access a longer list of health services at their local retail shop. Walmart, Walgreens Boots Alliance, and CVS Health are embracing the opportunities, aiming to boost their healthcare revenue from privately insured populations. According to a Bloomberg article, each of the retailers is rolling out everything from on-site symptom evaluation and testing to medication prescribing and treatment—all delivered by pharmacists—in 10 …
Read More
Level Up MD Urgent Care recently presented an educational event at Bloomfield College in Bloomfield, New Jersey, designed to equip resident assistants with skills to address emergency health and safety concerns in student residence halls. Information focused on first-aid procedures as well as best practices to protect people from exposure to bodily fluids or bloodborne pathogens. There’s more: Discussions at the event included direct information about Level Up MD Urgent Care’s operational hours, location, and …
Read More
Results from a randomized controlled trial presented in Pediatrics indicates that exposing children with laryngotracheobronchitis/acute viral laryngotracheitis to cold, outdoor air (<10°C or <50°F) can be beneficial in reducing symptoms when used as an adjunct to oral dexamethasone. Children in the trial were aged 3 months to 10 years and were seen in a tertiary pediatric emergency department, where they received a single dose of 0.6 mg/kg oral dexamethasone. The group of patients who were …
Read More
Preliminary research presented by the American Heart Association at its hypertension scientific sessions this week in Boston suggests that measuring blood pressure while a person is lying down may be a better predictor of heart health than typical readings when a patient is sitting. Researchers analyzed data from a long-running study and found that supine blood pressure readings were more effective at predicting strokes, serious heart issues, and by comparison. The study’s 11,369 participants were …
Read More
Urgent care centers across the United States are treating a rising number of COVID-19 cases, even among patients who say they tested negative at home. Nick Karr, MD, CEO and founder of Citra Urgent Care, noted as many as 20% of patients seeking care at the company’s seven locations in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, area, are testing positive, as reported by Fox 4. Texas had a 32% week-over-week increase in cases recently with hospitalizations rising …
Read More
Just over 10% of certified physician assistants (PAs) with a specialty in emergency medicine worked in the urgent care practice setting in 2022, according to the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants in its recent statistical profile of PAs. Here’s the good news: While 10% is a small subset of the PA workforce within the emergency medicine category, it’s a significant jump from the 6.6% who reported working in UC settings in the commission’s …
Read More