Language Barriers and Treating Children Ibuprofen and Pediatric with Ankle Sprains Facial Palsy and Leukemia Fentanyl and Midazolam for Younger Patients Are Hypotonic Fluids Safer in Acutely Ill Children? Comparing Symptoms of COVID-19 and Flu Examining COVID-19 in Children Pandemic Resource Limitations—and Burnout Ivan Koay, MBChB, FRNZCUC, MD Extra Care Needed when Dealing with Families where English use is Limited Key point: Children of parents with limited comfort with English (LCE) are twice as likely …
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Worsening, General Weakness and Immobility in an IV Drug User
Urgent message: Spinal epidural abscesses are a rare condition that can be fatal if untreated. Populations most at risk include the elderly, diabetics, and IV drug users. The most common cause of an epidural abscess is the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus. Savannah Chavez, MD; Jordan Miller, DO; J. Chika Morah, MD INTRODUCTION Incidence of spinal epidural abscesses ranges from 0.2 to 2.8 cases per 10,000 per year, with a peak incidence occurring in patients between 60 …
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Vaping-Associated Lung Injury (EVALI) Presenting to Urgent Care
Urgent message: Respiratory complaints due to use of e-cigarettes or vaping may be difficult to distinguish from those associated with influenza and other common respiratory illnesses. It is essential for the urgent care provider to ask patients who present with any respiratory complaint about vaping history, and to have a sound understanding of next steps for patients suspected of having e-cigarette or vaping-associated lung injury (EVALI). Marco Propersi, DO and Anand Swaminathan, MD, MPH Citation: …
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A 25-Year-Old Woman with Plaques on Her Elbows and Feet
The patients is a 25-year-old woman who presents with 1 month of smooth, red-brown plaques on her elbows and the tops of her feet which are pruritic. The lesions are round with a slightly darker ring on the outside, with no scaling or significant surface change to the skin. She has no systemic symptoms. View the image and consider what your diagnosis and next steps would be. Resolution of the case is described on the …
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A 74-Year-Old Female with Multiple Episodes of Chest Pain Over a 2-Day Period
A 74-year-old female presents to urgent care complaining of two episodes of chest pain in the past 2 days. The pain is midsternal, squeezing, does not radiate, and began at rest. The patient denies associated nausea, vomiting, diaphoresis, cough, lower extremity swelling or pain. Personal medical history is remarkable for hypertension, asthma, and diabetes. View the ECG ordered and consider what your diagnosis and next steps would be. Resolution of the case is described …
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A 28-Year-Old Man with Diarrhea and Abdominal Pain
The patient is a 28-year-old male who presents with a complaint of diarrhea and a 1-week history of abdominal pain. He reports no food allergies, recent travel, or known exposure to sick contacts. 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 MoreFAQ: New E/M Guidelines
It’s 2021, and the new E/M guidelines for office visit codes are here. Hopefully, providers will feel some relief in the amount they need to document and can spend more time treating their patients. This month I’ll answer some of the questions I’ve received. Q. Do all three elements of medical decision-making (MDM) need to be at the same level for the code selected? A. No. Only the two highest elements need to be met …
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Incidence of SARS-CoV-2 in Preoperative Patients Tested in an Urgent Care Setting
Urgent message: The capability to identify patients with COVID-19 before they undergo a surgical procedure is essential to the safety of the patient, the surgical team, and postoperative staff. Given the fact that many patients with the virus never exhibit symptoms, proactive preoperative testing in the urgent care center may lower the risk of spread and help quantify the rate of asymptomatic infection. Sarah Greenwood, PA; Bronson Elizabeth Delasobera, MD; Amanda Joy, PA; Rita Malley, …
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Adapting Urgent Care Marketing Strategies to Include Mobile and Voice Technologies
Urgent message: As consumers become more dependent on their internet-connected smartphones for health information, urgent care centers must adapt their marketing content to mobile devices and include greater use of voice-enabled search and GPS-enabled marketing tactics. When personalized technology started to become widespread in the late 90s and early 2000s, it changed the way companies did business. They were forced to adapt to new marketing tactics and develop creative ways to fend off competitors. Customers …
Read MoreUntil the COVID-19 Vaccine Is Widely Distributed, Keep Testing—and Reporting
When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated their running count of data related to COVID-19 on December 7, a couple of subtle messages highly relevant to the urgent care provider stood out. Yes, the headlines went to the dramatic spike in cases, hospitalizations, and ICU admissions. However, the data also reveal something that emerged in Incidence of SARS-CoV-2 in Preoperative Patients Tested in an Urgent Care Setting, the original research articles featured on …
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