Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Upper Respiratory Visits Associated With Inappropriate Antibiotics

Despite ongoing education and stewardship programs, inappropriate antibiotic prescribing is still common in high-income countries, especially for respiratory illnesses. A review of 12 observational studies from primary care settings in the United States, Europe, and Asia between 2021 and 2025, published in Cureus, found that when analyzing prescribing patterns by category, respiratory tract visits contributed to the largest overall share of inappropriate prescriptions—even when their rate of inappropriate antibiotic prescribing was not the highest. Reported …

Gonorrhea and Syphilis Cases Surge in Europe

Recent surveillance data shows that sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are rising across Europe, with gonorrhea and syphilis reaching their highest recorded levels in more than a decade. Cases have increased the most among men who have sex with men, although infections are also increasing among heterosexual men and women, according to analysis from the University of Minnesota. Health officials are especially concerned about the growing number of congenital syphilis cases, which are considered preventable with …

Scoring Tools Help Clinicians Estimate Risk In Syncope Patients

Researchers found that both the Canadian Syncope Risk Score (CSRS) and the FAINT score can inform clinical management of syncope in a prospective, observational study validating the tools published in JAMA Network Open. The primary outcome was a serious adverse outcome within 30 days of an emergency department (ED) visit. Among 1,263 patients aged 40 years or older with syncope or presyncope presenting to 6 urban EDs in the United States, 5.9% experienced a serious …

Azithromycin Does Not Improve Severe Wheezing in Young Kids

A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found azithromycin did not lead to a greater reduction in symptom severity among young children presenting to the emergency department (ED) with moderate-to-severe wheezing. The study included 840 children aged 18–59 months—62% of which tested positive for potentially pathogenic airway bacteria, and 86.1% had detectable respiratory viruses. Rhinovirus was the most common (72.5%). In the study, conducted at 8 U.S. pediatric EDs, children received …

Tick Bites Surge—And UC Can Be The Preferred Treatment Setting

Weekly emergency department (ED) visits for tick bites have reached their highest April levels since 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—reaching 104 per 100,000 ED visits. Last year, just 14 states accounted for ~90% of U.S. Lyme disease cases, according to Harvard Health, and the Northeast, mid-Atlantic, and upper Midwest are the regions of highest risk. Even so, the reported data doesn’t capture urgent care’s role in treating tick bites …

Conservative Antibiotic Duration May Work Well For Kids’ Uncomplicated UTIs

Shorter courses of antibiotics may be a reasonable option for kids with uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTIs), according to a meta-analysis of 13 randomized trials involving 2,010 children published in Clinical Microbiology and Infection. Researchers found that shorter antibiotic courses of 2–5 days prescribed for acute, uncomplicated pediatric UTIs produced outcomes comparable to longer courses of 7 days or more. Relapse rates were similar between groups (risk ratio [RR] 1.08), with only 8 more relapses …

CGRP Drugs Help Most For Migraine

A systematic review of 43 randomized trials involving more than 14,000 patients found that evidence shows several newer calcitonin gene–related peptide (CGRP)-targeted drugs can reduce chronic migraine frequency by about 2 headache days per month compared with placebo. In the review published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers also found the CGRPs may achieve at least a 50% reduction in migraine frequency, although those findings were sourced from a limited number of studies. Botulinum …

DoxyPEP Loses Effectiveness For Gonorrhea Over Time

Patients using the doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (doxyPEP) treatment protocol typically take a dose of the antibiotic within 72 hours of unprotected sex. DoxyPEP has shown some encouraging real-world effectiveness with significant declines in incidence of bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs). However, a new study of 26,582 men who have sex with men and transgender women in California from January 1, 2023, to June 30, 2025, published in The Lancet Infectious Disease, found that doxyPEP remained …

Cases of Ingested Water Beads Rise 6,000%; X-rays May Not Help Clinicians Diagnose

Toy blasters that shoot water beads are popular among kids as well as some adults, and most blasters cost less than $50 with a supply of thousands of water beads. The concern is that the colorful beads look like candy and may be attractive to young children. More than 20,000 water bead ingestions in children younger than 6 years were reported to U.S. poison centers between 2019 and 2024, as published in Academic Pediatrics. The …

Ondansetron May Not Be Necessary For All Kids After ED Visit For Vomiting

An analysis of persistent vomiting among children in emergency department (ED) presentations found that children under 2 years of age and those with 10 or more episodes of vomiting at presentation were more likely to benefit from ondansetron after discharge than other children. As published in JAMA Network Open, researchers analyzed 977 children with acute gastroenteritis–associated vomiting between September 14, 2019, and June 27, 2024, and found that overall, 8.6% of children had 3 or …

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