Practice Management
An 83-year-old female with past medical history of congestive heart failure and atrial fibrillation presents to urgent care with confusion and syncope. She reports intermittent dizziness, but denies chest pain or shortness of breath. There is no evidence of trauma on exam. View the ECG taken and consider what your diagnosis and next steps would be. Resolution of the case is described on the next page. (Case presented by Jonathan Giordano, DO, MEd, McGovern …
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A mother brings her 9-year-old girl daughter to your urgent care center because she’s concerned about a rash that developed on the girl’s face over the past week. On examination, you find a fine, scaly, pigmented plaque with pink and violaceous hues on her lower cheek. The lesion has a linear configuration. The patient and her family have a history of atopy, but the girl is well-appearing and has no systemic symptoms. View the photo …
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The patient is a 40-year-old male who presents to urgent care with lower-left back pain after an alumni soccer game during his high school reunion weekend. View the images taken and consider what your diagnosis and next steps would be. Resolution of the case is described on the next page.
Read MoreJust 4 years ago, a Research Letter published by JAMA Internal Medicine painted an unflattering picture of the antibiotic prescribing habits in U.S. physician offices, urgent care centers, retail clinics, and emergency rooms.1 Urgent care took its lumps along with other settings—but in response, collectively, also took the issue seriously and set to work on correcting course. In introducing their Antibiotic Stewardship program, The Urgent Care Association and the College of Urgent Care Medicine noted …
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Urgent Message: Inappropriate antibiotic prescribing in the outpatient setting has been a longstanding public health challenge. An educational session implemented in a large Midwestern healthcare system group of urgent care and convenience care clinics resulted in a statistically significant reduction in antibiotic prescribing for acute sinusitis and a statistically significant increase in antibiotic guideline adherence. Dr. Amy K. Rasmussen, DNP, FNP-C ABSTRACT Background: Inappropriate antibiotic prescribing in the outpatient setting is a longstanding problem and …
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Urgent message: Given that x-ray is a differentiating feature of “urgent care” and the current challenges in recruiting and retaining licensed RTs, a logical question for urgent care operators is the extent to which x-ray tasks can be delegated. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is President of Experity Consulting and is Practice Management Editor of The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine. “The only people who can touch an x-ray machine are those who are certified …
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Urgent message: Fever in patients presenting to UC is often attributable to viral infections, urinary tract infections, otitis media, cellulitis, or pneumonia. When the source is not apparent after the initial evaluation, however, it is important to expand the differential in order to avoid missing less common, serious diagnoses. Samidha Dutta, DO; Caleb Marsh, OMS-IV, UP-KYCOM; Michael Weinstock, MD CASE PRESENTATION A 74-year-old man with a history of Parkinson’s disease and diabetes presented with 2 …
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Fever: To Treat or Not to Treat? Distinguishing Viral from Bacterial Conjunctivitis Scapular Fractures and Blunt Chest Trauma in Children Sterile vs Nonsterile Gloves for Laceration Repair Bronchiolitis Care: An Update Antibiotic Stewardship and Children Post Paxlovid Rebound Ivan Koay MBChB, FRNZCUC, MD What Are the Consequences of Treating Adult Fever? Take-home point: Fever therapy in adults does not seem to affect the risk of death and serious adverse events. Citation: Holgersson J, Ceric A, …
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Heather Real There are many reasons to start your own urgent care, whether it be feeding your entrepreneurial spirit, investing in an industry that has proven to be stable and growing (even amidst multiple economic crises in the last three decades), or responding to the needs of a community. For many, the reasons include at least some of these, and more. Realizing the desire to take on this project is the first step; however, there …
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X-rays are high on the list of services patients expect urgent care centers to provide when needed. Currently, however, a dearth of qualified technicians can make guaranteeing that they can do so somewhat challenging. The November issue of JUCM will start an in-depth discussion of how the industry can best approach meeting that challenge for the benefit of the patient and the individual operator. One essential part of that discussion will be answering the question …
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