Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

A 69-Year-Old Female with Hypertension, Dyslipidemia, and a Constellation of Otolaryngologic Symptoms

Urgent message: Epiglottitis is classically viewed as a pediatric disease, but has become increasingly common in the adult population. While symptoms may present as an isolated sore throat, they can quickly progress to complete airway compromise with need for emergency cricothyroidotomy. Due to the high risk for morbidity and mortality, urgent care providers must maintain a high index of suspicion to avoid misdiagnosing a potentially catastrophic disease. Zachary DePriest, MS, PA-C INTRODUCTION Adult epiglottitis (AE) …

Abstracts in Urgent Care November 2020

Antibiotics (or Not?) for Dog Bites Scaring the Quest for Antibiotics Out of Patients Post-Op Antibiotics in Complex Appendicitis How Long Should Sepsis Patients Receive Antibiotics? Times Are Changing for Patients with Allergic Rhinitis Avijit Barai MBBS, MRCS, MSc (Critical Care), PgCertCPU, FRNZCUC Prophylactic Antibiotics for Dog Bites Key point: The majority of the patients presenting to emergency room with dog bites receive prophylactic antibiotics either in the hospital or on discharge. About one quarter …

High Prevalence of Asymptomatic COVID-19 in the Pediatric Population

Urgent message: As understanding of COVID-19 in the pediatric age group evolves, it has come to light that children may contract the virus, yet be asymptomatic, more commonly than we initially believed. We have found a high prevalence of asymptomatic pediatric patients testing positive for COVID-19 in our urgent care clinics in the NY metro region. Katharine Miao MD, Frank Illuzzi MD, and Alexander C. Hwang IMPORTANCE SARS-CoV-2 is the novel virus that causes COVID-19. …

A POCUS-Based Approach to Acute Renal Colic in the Urgent Care Center

Urgent message: Recent expert opinion has reshaped initial management for suspected acute renal colic. Clinicians often utilize computerized tomography imaging to diagnose acute renal colic; however, there is an increasing role for clinicians to instead use point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) as the initial imaging modality when acute renal colic is suspected. Renal ultrasound is time and cost effective, radiation-free and completed by the clinician at the bedside. Chelsea M. Burgin, MD, FAAFP; James Frederick W. Pike, …

Abstracts in Urgent Care – October 2020

Ethnic Background Matters in ECG Evaluation Lean on Risk Stratification Tools in Chest Pain Lasting Effects of Headache in Children Trauma and Childhood Migraine Comparing ‘Fixes’ for Distal Radial Fractures in Adolescents Casting Options in Distal Radius Fractures in the Elderly Avijit Barai, MBBS, MRCS, MSc (Critical Care), PgCertCPU, FRNZCUC Ethnicity and STEMI Criteria of ECG Key point: The ethnic background of patients should be considered during ECG evaluation of ST segment elevation myocardial infarction …

A New-Onset, Suspicious Skin Lesion

Urgent message: Patients and providers alike may be inclined to eliminate possible diagnoses based on first impressions. It is essential that the urgent care clinician maintain a wide differential when evaluating patients for new-onset complaints that do not have an obvious cause. Failure to do so may cause delayed diagnoses (and, consequently, delayed treatment). Haley Harrington, Ross L. Pearlman, MD and Robert T. Brodell, MD INTRODUCTION Ticks are small—so small that patients often do not …

Preparedness for Emergencies in Pediatric Urgent Care Settings

Urgent message: While standards for pediatric emergency care have been defined for outpatient offices and emergency departments, guidelines have not been published for urgent care centers. This study assesses the presence of equipment, supplies, and medications necessary to manage emergencies in pediatric urgent care centers. Amanda Montalbano, MD, MPH, FAAP and Brian Lee, PhD, MPH Results from this project were presented in poster format the Pediatric Urgent Care Conference in Orlando, FL in 2018. No …

Opportunity is Knocking. Do you hear it?

It is not the strongest species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the most responsive to change. – Charles Darwin Imagine, if you will for a moment, that you’re a dinosaur. Specifically, a late cretaceous era one —any species you like. I tend to envision myself a triceratops. It’s about 66 million years ago (give or take an epoch or two) and animals like you have dominated the world for over 100 million years—not …

Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C): Who Should Not Be MISC’ed?

Katie Jerzewski MD, Roshni Patel MD, and Joshua Rocker MD OVERVIEW The novel coronavirus, or SARS-CoV-2, first appeared in the Wuhan province of China in the winter of 2019. Due to the virus’s ability to spread from an asymptomatic carrier to the next new host and Wuhan being a pivotal commercial center, it spread quickly across the globe. Asymptomatic carrier rates have ranged from 1.6% to 56.5%, depending on clinical setting and testing availability.1 In …

Abstracts in Urgent Care – October 2020 (PUCC)

Spotlight on Original Research in Pediatric Urgent Care: Excerpts from the 2020 Pediatric Urgent Care Conference (PUCC). Los Angeles, CA David J. Mathison, MD, MBA Decreasing Length of Stay in the Pediatric Urgent Care with Electronic Discharge Instructions* Wooster J, Patel A, Nedved A, Lee B The aim of this research was to determine if an electronic discharge process could decrease length of stay by an average of 10 minutes per patient. An electronic discharge …