StuWilli, Author at Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Medical Boards: Part 1

John Shufeldt, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP I have been practicing medicine for nearly 30 years. I have received countless letters from law firms for records requests and notifying our group or me of an impending issue. I’m kind of numb to it. Conversely, anytime I get a letter from the medical board, I go into SVT. I am sure it is the same way with the physician assistant and nursing boards. You just start thinking, …

The Sword and the Shield: Best Hiring Practices for Urgent Care Facilities

Urgent message: It is imperative that urgent care centers utilize the various tools at their disposal to recruit the best candidates, while implementing best practices that mitigate the potential for lawsuits. DAMARIS L. MEDINA, ESQ. Urgent care is one of the fastest growing segments of American health care. Historically, many urgent care facilities were considered small businesses because they employed fewer than 15 people, making them exempt from certain hiring discrimination claims under The Federal …

Periostitis in secondary syphilis

Urgent message: Be on the lookout for periostitis in patients with syphilis who present with extremity pain. MAY MOHTY, MD, FAAP, FAAUCM, and CASEY PHILIPSBORN, MSIV Syphilis (from the Greek word Syphlos, meaning crippled) is an infectious disease caused by the spirochete species Treponema pallidum. Patients can present with manifestations of any of the three stages of syphilis, ranging from a painless ulcer to an asymptomatic rash, to general paresis and dementia, among a myriad …

The ‘Control’ Paradox

Lee A. Resnick, MD, FAAFP Influenza is off to a fast start this year and volumes are ballooning. ‘Tis the season to be swamped in urgent care, and without a good approach, urgent care clinicians can quickly become overwhelmed, burned out, and irritable. Pile on the stress of the holidays and the demands of family and loved ones and you’ve got a recipe for disaster. Work-life balance is important for all of us, yet feels …

Abstracts in Urgent Care: January, 2015

Fatigue and inappropriate antibiotic prescription Key point: As the day goes on, resistance to prescribe potentially inappropriate antibiotics seems to fade. Citation: Linder JA, Doctor JN, Friedberg MW, et al. Time of day and the decision to prescribe antibiotics. JAMA Intern Med. 2014 Oct 6; doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2014.5225. [Epub ahead of print] Previous research has shown that resistance to making the easier choice tends to fade as fatigue increases. Physicians make many difficult decisions during …

Repair of Lacerations of the Face and Scalp: Part 2

Urgent message: Evaluation and treatment of injuries of the cheek, ear, nose, lips and tongue are explored to help urgent care clinicians more confidently manage these presentations. TOYIN FAPOHUNDA-ADEKOLA MD, MBA In Part 1 of this series, we covered the evaluation and management of scalp, brow, and eyelid lacerations. In Part 2, we will explore injuries of the cheek, ear, nose, lips and tongue. As previously discussed, careful evaluation of neurovascular function and appreciation of …

Creating an Inclement-Weather Policy for Your Urgent Care Center

Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc, is Practice Management Editor for JUCM, serves on the Board Directors of the Urgent Care Association of America, and is Vice-President of Strategic Initiatives for Practice Velocity. Urgent Message: Every urgent care center should have a policy addressing the various issues of communication, safety, pay, operations, and human resources that will undoubtedly come up when bad weather strikes. If the paradigm shift fueling the success of the urgent health-care model …

Man with blood in the eye

This image was taken of a 35-year-old man who presented to the urgent care center with blood in the anterior chamber of his eye after he was hit in the eye with a baseball. He bled from his nose, and his right eye swelled shut because of eyelid edema. Initial nasal hemorrhage was controlled, but he was referred to the emergency department because of pain in the inferior orbit. View the image taken (Figure 1) …

Boy with swollen foot

This image was taken on a 6-year-old male who was wrestling with his cousins when he developed severe pain in his right foot. There was bruising and swelling over the dorsum of the right foot. View the images taken (Figure 1) and consider what your diagnosis would be.

Developing Data: December, 2014

Data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Aetna show that as the cost of health care treatment continues to rise, urgent care offers a compelling low-cost alternative for delivering care outside the hospital. By transitioning unnecessary emergency department visits to urgent care, $18 billion in savings is projected to be possible. In this issue: Low-Cost Setting as a Driver of Urgent Care Industry Growth

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