Clinical

Conventional wisdom has it that woman and men experience symptoms of heart attack in different ways. As is often the case in life, however, the conventional wisdom may have it all wrong. According to a study just published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, men and woman may actually experience heart attacks in the same ways—information that’s essential for you to know the next time a patient presents while experiencing a possible MI. …

In an ordinary year, this would be early to start recognizing trends in the influenza season. Sadly, this is not an ordinary year, however, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says an early start to flu season is hitting more of the most vulnerable patients than ever. Numbers are up across the board, but those over age 64 and under age 4 are being afflicted disproportionately at this point (3.6 cases per 100,000 …

The good news is that HIV no longer equates to a death sentence. The bad news is that its status as a treatable disease has caused many people to stop paying attention to it altogether—to the extent that they no longer see the need for prevention and testing. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 14% of people with HIV were unaware they had it until it was discovered secondary to …

It’s likely your patients have been so inundated with flu shot messaging that they don’t know the entire world, including the U.S., is in the midst of one of the worst years for measles infection in decades. At the same time, and certainly not coincidentally, vaccination rates are stagnating worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. Measles infected nearly 10 million people around the world in 2018, according to the WHO, but the number of …

How long do you think a patient with chest pain would sit in your waiting room before getting the attention and care they needed? Your answer is probably measured in minutes, as it should be. Certainly it would be less than 47 hours, which is how long one patient waited in the hallway of an ED before space was available in the cardiac unit of a Boston hospital. That clearly is an extreme case, and …

According to a new study by the National Center for Health Statistics, over the past 6 years 2.7 million athletes between the ages of 5 and 24 have been treated for injuries in hospital emergency rooms; that’s nearly half a million patients every year. Some of them really belong there, of course, but it’s likely that most could be treated more quickly, less expensively, and at least as safely in your urgent care center. If …

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says influenza season is off to its earliest start in 10 years. By mid-November 30 states had confirmed cases. These facts have been detailed on local and national TV news programs and in major newspapers and online news sources. And yet, many people who intend to get vaccinated haven’t done so. Your urgent care providers could be the catalysts for getting them to take that step, possibly saving …

In consideration of mounting cases of influenza—and the respiratory concerns they bring with them—the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its guidelines on diagnosing and treating patients with signs of e-cigarette or vaping lung injury (EVALI). Urgent care providers, and all healthcare professionals, are urged to ask patients with symptoms of respiratory or gastrointestinal illness (or symptoms such as fever, chills, or weight loss) if they use, and how often they use, e-cigarettes …

New research revealed at the recent Annual Meeting of the American College of Emergency Physicians shows that intravenous cetirizine is noninferior to IV diphenhydramine in the treatment of acute urticaria, with a better safety profile. The researchers randomized 262 adult patients with acute urticaria who presented to 1 of 19 EDs or urgent care centers from March 2017 to April 2018 to receive either 50 mg IV diphenhydramine or 10 mg IV cetirizine. Primary endpoint …

With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention again promoting U.S. Antibiotic Awareness Week (November 18–24) to patients and clinicians alike, new data underscore the deadly consequences of failing to heed accepted prescribing guidelines. The CDC’s 2019 Antibiotic Resistance Threats Report reveals that roughly 35,000 American die every year due to drug-resistant infections, whereas in years past the estimate was approximately 23,000 fatalities.  Total number of antibiotic-resistant infections is over 2.8 million. As the CDC …