Ashley Blachford, Author at Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Analysis of Short Course Systemic Glucocorticoid Prescribing in Urgent and Convenient Care Clinics

Urgent Message: Across a tristate urgent care and convenient care network, systemic steroid use occurred in nearly one-sixth of encounters (15.5%)—72.5% for likely avoidable indications and 66% for acute respiratory infections. The finding highlights the need to establish systemic steroid metrics to drive stewardship efforts. Paul Hansen, MD; Yang Wang, PhD; Muhammad Naseer, MD Abstract Background: The College of Urgent Care Medicine released a position statement advocating for corticosteroid stewardship best practices in 2022, …

When Neck Pain Arises From Spinal Epidural Abscess: A Case Report

Urgent Message: Though atraumatic neck pain is a common condition in the urgent care setting, spinal epidural abscess is relatively uncommon and may present without classic symptoms, which makes it a challenging diagnosis to make. Early recognition, timely imaging, and thorough documentation are essential to prevent a devastating outcome and to mitigate medicolegal risk. Key Words: Neck Pain, Spinal Infection, Cervical Epidural Abscess, Spinal Epidural Abscess, Medicolegal Risk, Anchoring Bias Eileen Chu, MD, MS; Lucille …

Chronic Infant Mortality Leads Miss. To Declare Unusual Public Health Emergency

Mississippi health officials this week declared a public health emergency after new data showed the state’s infant mortality rate has soared. In 2024, 9.7 infants died for every 1,000 live births, up from 8.9 in 2023 and nearly double the national average of 5.6 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to the state. Since 2014, 3,527 infants in Mississippi have died before their first birthday. Officials say the declaration will speed up efforts to expand …

Viral Gastroenteritis With Bowel Obstruction: A Case Report

Urgent Message: While acute gastroenteritis is typically self-limiting, inappropriate or excessive use of over-the-counter antimotility agents like loperamide can lead to serious complications—such as bowel obstruction or ileus—highlighting the critical need for patient education on safe medication use. Badi Eghterafi, DO; Nazanin Hazhir Karzar, MD Key Words: Gastroenteritis, Over The Counter Medications, Loperamide, Case Report, Bowel Obstruction Abstract Introduction: Acute gastroenteritis (AGE) is a common condition characterized by rapid-onset diarrhea, often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, …

AI Scribes Reduce Clinician Burnout By 21%, Improve Well-Being By 30%

Using artificial intelligence (AI) to generate notes to document patient visits was linked to improvements in clinician burnout, as published in JAMA Network Open. Researchers surveyed 1,430 clinicians from 2 different health systems who used ambient documentation technology. They found physicians at Mass General Brigham reported a 21.2% absolute reduction in burnout with the tools, as the proportion of clinicians reporting burnout decreased from 50.6% to 29.4% at 42 days and from 52.6% to 30.7% …

ED Visits Shorter, But Volume Set To Increase 8% By 2035

Emergency department (ED) visits in the United States appear to be improving when comparing length-of-stay numbers year-over-year, according to a recent analysis tracking utilization trends. The report examines visit duration in 4-quarter increments, showing the ED length of stay from Q2 2023 through Q1 2024 averaged 5 hours, compared to 4.2 hours in the period from Q2 2024 through Q1 2025. This represents a 16.2% reduction in length of stay. Meanwhile, the inpatient admission rate …

Videos By Your Kid’s Physician May Encourage Pediatric Flu Vaccination

When a physician recommends an important health service, patients are more apt to listen, aren’t they? Maybe not. A randomized clinical trial of more than 22,233 patients published in JAMA Network Open tested whether personalized physician videos or infographics could raise the uptake of influenza vaccinations for adults and children. As it turned out, in the 2023-2024 respiratory virus season, vaccination rates were similar across groups: 46.9% with usual care, 48.0% with video, and 47.5% …

Abstracts in Urgent Care – September 2025

Casting Rather Than Surgery for Medial Epicondyle Fractures in Children Take Home Point: In this randomized trial, treatment for pediatric displaced medial epicondyle fractures with casting alone was noninferior to the traditional surgical fixation and casting at the12-month follow-up period. Citation: Grahn P, Helenius I, Hämäläinen T, et. al. Casting vs Surgical Treatment of Children With Medial Epicondyle Fractures: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2025 May 1;8(5):e258479. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.8479. Relevance: Medial humeral epicondyle …

High COVID Positivity in August Sheds Light on Seasonality Trends

According to detailed state-level data collected by Experity across urgent care centers, Texas (30.9%) and Utah (30.8%) are leading the nation in COVID-19 positivity rates through August 18, 2025. Summer’s big picture, dating back to June 1, shows the 7-day positivity rate overall has grown from 5% to 20% for U.S. urgent cares—a rate that is lower than this time last year. Positivity rates in 2024 peaked at 31.3% in August, according to Experity. With …

AAP Recommends Kids Get COVID Vaccines

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) this week released an immunization schedule including evidence-based guidance for COVID-19 vaccines for children and adolescents. What some see as controversial, however, is the fact that the AAP schedule doesn’t align with recent government agency announcements. Specifically, AAP recommends the COVID vaccine for all children 6 months to 23 months of age as well as older children who are in several risk groups. By contrast, the latest Food and …

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