Urgent message: Appropriate treatment of “trigger finger” in the urgent care setting starts with differentiating that diagnoses from other disorders of the hand. This is relatively straightforward if one finger is involved, but can become more complex with multiple digits. Shailendra K. Saxena, MD, PhD and Alexander M. Stock, BS INTRODUCTION Trigger finger, also known as stenosing flexor tenosynovitis, is a common hand disorder that affects approximately 2.6% of the general population during their lifetime.1 …
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A 69-Year-Old Man with a 2-Month History of Shortness of Breath and Mild Chest Pain
The patients is a 69-year-old man with shortness of breath and mild chest pain of 2 months duration. He has felt it unnecessary to see his “regular doctor” because his complaints haven’t gotten worse, but conceded to visit urgent care today at the insistence of his family. When asked, he acknowledges a history of congestive heart failure and hypertension. View the ECG and consider what your diagnosis and next steps would be. Resolution of the …
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What Urgent Care Operators Need to Know About OSHA
Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Chief Executive Officer of Velocity Urgent Care and is Practice Management Editor of The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine. Urgent message: Though the topic of OSHA doesn’t often come up in the context of urgent care facilities themselves, operators are nevertheless required to have a thorough understanding of its standards and guidelines towards ensuring their facilities are in compliance, and that the health and safety of employees, patients, and …
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Abstracts in Urgent Care Medicine
Topical TXA vs Merocel in anterior epistaxis Cool Running Water Reduces Need For Skin Graft In Pediatric Burns Efficacy Oral Ibuprofen at Various Doses for Short-Term Pain Relief Do Patients Know What Fracture Means? Tramadol’s Numerous Adverse Drug Reactions Recurrent Febrile Seizures Increase Morbidity And Mortality Yijung Russell, MD Topical TXA Is as Effective as Merocel in Stopping Anterior Epistaxis Key point: Atomized TXA with nasal compression is as effective as Merocel in stopping anterior …
Read MoreIn Memoriam: Peter Rosen, MD
It’s a popular, but trite, tribute to say someone “wrote the book on [fill in the blank].” It’s usually not a statement of fact, however. A rare exception would be to say, “Peter Rosen wrote the book on emergency medicine” because, in fact, Peter Rosen, MD really was responsible for the first comprehensive textbook in emergency medicine (Rosen’s Emergency Management: Concepts and Clinical Practice, the first edition of which was published in 1983). A …
Read MoreLaceration Repair: Why Quality Instruments Are Important for Patients, Clinicians, Hospitals, and Urgent Care
Urgent message: Laceration repair is one of the first skills urgent care clinicians are expected to learn and master. While much research and coursework are devoted to proper technique, very little attention has been paid to the tools of the trade. The author conducted his own research project to understand the essence of the individual instruments and instrument kits in the hope of optimizing (or improving) their design and use. Patrick O’Malley, MD INTRODUCTION Urgent …
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A 42-Year-Old Female with Pain After a Child Fell on Her Hand
The patient is a 42-year-old woman who presents to urgent care after a child weighing approximately 70 pounds fell on her hand at a family gathering. Pain is severe around the base of the fifth metacarpal. On exam, you note soft tissue swelling in the ulnar aspect of the hand. View the images taken and consider what your diagnosis and next steps would be.
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If Your Business Doesn’t Work on Paper, It Won’t Work in Reality!
Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Chief Executive Officer at Velocity Urgent Care and is Practice Management Editor of The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine. Urgent message: A business plan should never be a formality to meet bank or investor requirements. Rather, it should represent a rigorous testing of all your analyses and assumptions around a business decision. Because, sometimes, the “best” outcome from diligent business planning just might be the decision to forego the opportunity …
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Telehealth May Be Going Retail—But Is That Good for Patients?
Shoppers at H-E-B grocery stores were presented with a whole new product recently: telehealth “visits” with offsite healthcare providers. The chain is partnering with Reliant Immune Diagnostics, which has placed their MDBox telehealth platform in select H-E-B locations. For a charge of up to $50, shoppers can answer a few questions about their symptoms on MDBox before being connected to an off-site provider. That provider then makes whatever diagnosis they think is appropriate—and “writes” a …
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Urgent Care Is Attracting More Migraine Patients; Be Sure You Know the Guidelines
An article just published in Neurology Advisor notes that the ongoing growth of the urgent care industry has led more and more patients with migraine to visit urgent care centers instead of the emergency room, where “long wait times, bright lights, loud noises, and stress over cost of treatment associated with emergency departments…can exacerbate migraine symptoms.” At the same time, the authors suggest that greater adherence to current treatment guidelines from the American Headache Society …
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