Practice Management
Case The patient is a 37-year-old man who presents to urgent care complaining of fever, nausea, and abdominal pain. He had attributed these symptoms to a recent trip to Japan, where he ate lots of new foods along with old favorites like sushi. However, he became concerned when a pruritic, serpiginous lesion appeared on his flank. View the photo taken, and consider what your diagnosis and next steps would be. Resolution of the case is …
Read MoreRethinking IV Antibiotics for Cellulitis Key point: Oral antibiotics are noninferior to parenteral antibiotics for uncomplicated cellulitis. Erythema of cellulitis commonly expands somewhat, even if treated with appropriate antibiotics, for the first 1-2 days after starting treatment. Citation: Aboltins CA, Hutchinson AF, Sinnappu RN, et al. Oral versus parenteral antimicrobials for the treatment of cellulitis: a randomized non-inferiority trial, J Antimicrob Chemother. 2015;70(2):581-586. Patients with cellulitis are often referred from urgent care to the emergency …
Read More
Case The patient is an 18-month-old girl brought to your urgent care center by her parents. They report that she has been scratching her abdomen. When they lifted her shirt, they found multiple hyperpigmented macules widespread across the front and back of her trunk. She also has 1 hour of wheezing. View the photo taken, and consider what your diagnosis and next steps would be. Resolution of the case is described on the next page. …
Read MorePractice of Urgent Care: More Patients, More Decisions, More Fatigue Key point: We should be aware, as clinicians, that as we progress through our shifts, decision fatigue mounts. One manifestation of decision fatigue is an incremental decline in antibiotic stewardship. It is also important to understand that taking breaks seems to combat the harmful effects of decision fatigue. Citations: Linder JA, Doctor JN, Friedberg MW, et al. Time of day and the decision to prescribe …
Read More
Urgent message: Falls in the elderly may be mechanical or due to an underlying etiology, making the urgent care evaluation tricky. The provider will need to evaluate the sequelae of the fall as well as searching for the hidden cause. Introduction Medical complaints from the elderly population will pose more of a challenge when the chief complaint is fall. The source can range from a neurologic etiology, a cardiac abnormality, or a metabolic or …
Read More
Case A 55-year-old male presented to urgent care with a chief complaint of coughing, shortness of breath, wheezing, chest palpitations, and dizziness for the past 2 days. The patient denied chest pain. He has a significant past medical history of diabetes mellitus II and takes metformin 500 mg once a day. The patient’s blood pressure is 88/60 mmHg, heart rate is 115, O2 sat 98%, weight 275 pounds, BMI 50.3. In addition: General: alert and …
Read More
Case The patient is a 47-year-old woman who presents with left hip pain that worsens when she is working out on her elliptical machine, and improves with rest. View the x-ray taken and consider what the diagnosis and next steps would be. Resolution of the case is described on the next page.
Read MoreLike many of you, the fear of a medical malpractice claim casts a wide shadow over everything I do. Like most of you, my intent is always to do no harm and provide the best care possible for every patient despite significant challenges. And like all of you, I wonder how we got to a place where any level of inaccuracy or misjudgment became a breach of the standard of care. While some reforms have …
Read More
Urgent message: Urgent care centers may offer opportunities to provide preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) services for HIV due to large numbers of patients seeking testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infection. In the same sense, the urgent care center may also serve as an important ally in providing referrals for patients not currently linked to primary care services. Yeow Chye Ng, PhD, FNP-BC, NP-C, CPC, AAHIVE, Jack J. Mayeux, MSN, APRN, NP-C, and Thuy Lynch, PhD, …
Read More
Urgent message: Patients who have had recent surgical procedures may present to urgent care centers for reasons ranging from seeking reassurance to presentation of life-threatening complications. Tracey Quail Davidoff, MD Introduction Patients often experience complications—or, at least as often, fear they’re experiencing complications—after a surgical procedure. While the surgeon is often the best person for them to consult, this may not be possible for a variety of reasons. Outpatient surgical centers are opening almost at …
Read More