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Download the article PDF: Celebrating 20 Years Of Jucm
“The more things change, the more they stay the same.” This quote by French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr in 1849 is what rings true for me as I reflect on the 20-year anniversary of The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine (JUCM). Over the last 2 decades, the landscape of urgent care has changed drastically. Some highlights of those changes include significant growth in the number of urgent care centers and the number of urgent care visits—both nationally and internationally—the inclusion of nurse practitioners and physician assistants in patient care, transitions in ownership and operator models for urgent care centers, and a shifting financial landscape. Urgent care was once just a convenience, and now it is a critical source for medical care.
Despite the great changes in the landscape of urgent care, JUCM has, in many ways, remained the same. In 2006, the first issue of JUCM came to fruition as a result of the innovative vision of Dr. Joseph Toscano, Peter Murphy, Stuart Williams, Dr. David Stern, and Dr. Lee Resnick. At that time, the mission was to provide a high-quality, practical journal for a new and emerging specialty. Today that mission remains unchanged, and the work of all who contribute to JUCM is still centered on that objective. We know that together we can represent and advance the practice of medicine among urgent care clinicians and also provide practical management information that is distinct to the urgent care field.
At JUCM, we value partnerships with meaningful organizations working to advance urgent care. Initially, we partnered with the Urgent Care Association (previously the Urgent Care Association of America) and continue a strong relationship with them to support the operational and business needs of urgent care. With the formation and growth of the College of Urgent Care Medicine and the Urgent Care College of Physicians, we also have added them as partners to enhance our mission of advancing clinical excellence in urgent care. Supporting urgent care requires collaboration among all the groups that are elevating the cause via their missions and their involved members. JUCM is honored to have these valued relationships while looking forward to many more years of partnership.
Core Themes
The structure of the journal has also remained consistent over the last 20 years to ensure that we always provide practical, urgent-care-focused material. We regularly feature Letters from the Editor and Perspectives to bring innovation and the candid voices of thought leaders to our JUCM audience. We continue to share personal pieces from the Chief Executive Officer of the Urgent Care Association to provide updates on its critical work. We consistently present clinical and practice management content from experienced professionals who live and work in urgent care every day. We continue to highlight pertinent, applicable, recently published medical literature for our readers. We offer clinical images to educate our clinicians on x-ray reads, rash identification, ECG interpretation, and point-of-care ultrasound. We recognize the importance of emerging data that can inform leaders where urgent care is at and where it is heading. In addition, we keep our audience up to date on industrywide news developments delivered straight to their inboxes.
Maybe surprisingly, much of JUCM’s core content themes remain unchanged, albeit with notable advances. While we have and will continue to adapt to the changing urgent care landscape, many of our key clinical and practice management topics remain as relevant today as they did 20 years ago. Looking back to the first few issues of JUCM, published clinical articles included topics such as syncope, urticaria and angioedema, and epididymitis. These are all complaints and diagnoses that still regularly present in urgent care centers. Additionally, the practice management topics also remain applicable to urgent care today, including retail clinics, urgent care center financial management, and managing medical emergencies.
20 Years At The Forefront
While things in urgent care have been changing rapidly, JUCM has remained a constant. JUCM is at the forefront of bringing important urgent care clinical and practice management insight to its readers just as it has for the last 20 years.
To our visionaries, our editors, and all of our contributors, a heartfelt thank you for your time, energy, effort, and enthusiasm. We could not have done this without so many colleagues and champions—as they say, “it takes a village.” May our JUCM village continue to work together to support the journal for the next 20 years and beyond as the urgent care landscape continues to change!
