StuWilli, Author at Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Providing DOT Medical Certification Exams for Commercial Drivers

Urgent message: The Department of Transportation’s responsibility to ensure that commercial drivers are physically qualified to operate in interstate commerce can mean new business for urgent care providers who qualify to perform certification exams. Ellison H. Wittels, MD, FACP The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) – one of nine operating administrations within the United States Department of Transportation (DOT; Table 1) – is tasked with regulating commercial trucks and buses in interstate commerce. That …

Physician Recruiting: Standing Out in a Crowd

Urgent care is growing by hundreds of centers each year, and available physicians are declining with equal speed. urgent care training is variable, at best, and urgent care experience is hard to find. Expanding health systems with their in-house recruiters and high visibility are tightening the squeeze. All told, it’s a recipe for unfilled positions and staff burnout. Whether you are looking to expand locations, add providers, or replace departing ones, you are bound to …

20-year-old female with knee pain after fall

The patient is a 20-year-old female who presents with pain one day after falling and experiencing a blow to the knee. Examination reveals no significant findings beyond mild local tenderness. She is able to bear weight fully on both legs. View the image and consider what your diagnosis and next steps would be.

16-year-old male experiencing chest and throat pain

The patient is a 16-year-old male who presents with difficulty breathing, pain in his throat, difficulty swallowing, and pleuritic chest pain. He reports that the symptoms began “a couple of hours” earlier. There is no history of trauma, choking, or recent dental procedure. The patient looks well, and is quiet and not toxic. Pulse is 75, O2sat 94; there is no fever. Chest is normal, with bilateral air entry. Assessment is hindered by the patient’s …

93-year-old female with a twisted ankle

The patient is a 93-year-old female who lost her balance and twisted her ankle. She presents with significant pain in the ankle and swelling over her lateral ankle, though she is able to bear weight. View the image and consider what your diagnosis and next steps would be.

Clinical Challenge 2

The patient is a 61-year-old male who presents with back pain. The patient’s abdomen is soft. Vitals are stable. View the image taken (Figure 1) and consider what your diagnosis and next steps would be. Resolution of the case is described on the next page.

July/August 2010

In the Beginning: Medical Express Care, Dunmore, Pennsylvania

(In the Beginning recounts the real-life experiences of urgent care operators who have taken the initiative to hang out the proverbial shingle and open a new start-up center. It will be an occasionally recurring feature available exclusively in the digital edition of JUCM.) Ask Dr. Donna Eget about the greatest benefit to owning an urgent care center and she doesn’t miss a beat; to her, it is time—time with family and time with patients. The …

Abstracts in Urgent Care: July/August, 2010

Validation of the ABCD2 Score for Predicting Stroke Risk After Transient Ischemic Attack Key point: An ABCD2 score > 2 is associated with significantly increased risk for stroke within 90 days. Citation: Tsivgoulis G, Stamboulis E, Sharma VK, et al. Multicenter external validation of the ABCD2 score in triaging TIA patients. Neurology. 2010; 74(17): 1351-1357. The ABCD2 score has been endorse internationally as a simple method for identifying patients with transient ischemic attack (TIA) who …

Developing Data: July/August, 2010

In each issue on this page, we report on research from or relevant to the emerging urgent care marketplace. This month, we provide new data relevant to many urgent care providers’ marketing messages – namely, hospital performance on wait times during visits to the emergency room. These data reflect the percentage of visits in which wait times met pre-defined targets. Source: Horwitz LI, Green J, Bradley EH. U.S. emergency department performance on wait time and …

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