Patients (and probably more than a few healthcare professionals) are all about the COVID-19 vaccine these days. However, the need for ongoing vigilance against other communicable diseases goes on. To that end, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed its recommended immunization schedule for adults for 2021. You can read the entire report here, but following are illness-specific changes that may be most relevant for the …
Read MoreThinking This Is a Good Time to Try Telehealth? Don’t Leave Yourself Open to Cyberattack
Regular readers of JUCM News know telehealth has been on the rise among urgent care centers for the past year. It’s been so popular across the healthcare spectrum during the pandemic that the federal government just extended certain waivers, such as approving the right of patients to “see” providers in states other than their own, during the current public health emergency. If you’re thinking this would be a great time to dip your toe in …
Read MoreFear of Anaphylaxis May Be Scaring Patients Off the COVID-19 Vaccine. Should It?
Millions of Americans have already availed themselves to one of the newly approved COVID-19 vaccines. Multiples more are eager to get their turn. There are many, however, who say they won’t get the shot because the vaccines were “rushed through” the approval process. While that’s not true—studies were prioritized due to the urgent nature of the pandemic—too many people are afraid that they’re putting themselves at unreasonable risk for a bad reaction, with anaphylaxis being …
Read MoreCDC: Two Really Is Better Than One When It Comes to Masking Up
Urgent care patients and staff members who wear a loose-fitting mask are putting themselves and those around them at unnecessarily higher risk for COVID-19 infection, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In fact, the CDC now specifically states that a tight-fitting mask provides more protection than a loose mask, and that doubling up on masks is advisable—especially now that new, more contagious strains are making the rounds. If …
Read MoreED Visits for Behavioral Health Are Prevalent During the Pandemic—Are You Ready for the Same?
It’s been assumed for close to a year that the isolation and stress associated with the COVID-19 pandemic would take a toll on our collective sense of wellbeing and peace of mind. Those consequences are now being borne out in data on presentations to the emergency room for mental health conditions, suicide attempts, drug overdoses, intimate partner violence, and child abuse or neglect. All increased as a percentage of overall ED visits over a 7-month …
Read MoreFreestanding ERs Are Trying to Make a Killing on COVID-19 Tests
A couple of years ago, stories of patients getting surprise bills from freestanding emergency rooms—often based on the mistaken presumption that they had actually visited an urgent care center—ran rampant. Legislation in various states reduced the risk of that happening, and urgent care centers did their part by taking great pains to differentiate themselves from freestanding ERs. However, now that COVID-19 testing has become both common and urgently necessary, patients are again getting stung by …
Read MoreFollow-Up: Make the Case to Keep COVID-19 Testing in a Clinical Setting—for the Good of Patients and Your Practice
News that the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security were ready to plop down $230 million for at-home COVID-19 tests may have been great for the manufacturer, but it could have a deleterious effect on urgent care and other clinical settings that conduct testing—and on the patients the tests are designed to help, as well. The concern is that not all patients will be able to follow the instructions or be physically able …
Read MoreBe Aware: The UK COVID-19 Variant Is Becoming the Dominant U.S. Strain—Fast
As in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people (including healthcare professionals) may be taking false comfort in the fact that the multiple variants of the virus started cropping up “somewhere else.” Also as we saw a year ago, however, that kind of thinking is no protection. Early, yet-to-be published data show that the variant first detected in the United Kingdom is becoming the dominant strain in several countries—and that its occurrence is …
Read MoreA Novel Method for Blinding Reviewers to Gender of Proceduralists for the Purposes of Gender Bias Research
Urgent message Gender bias, whether overt or subconscious, may be to blame for disparities in hiring practices, salary, and advancement in medical schools, the urgent care setting, and any healthcare workplace. Recognizing the value of gender-neutral assessment may not only “even the playing field,” but increase the likelihood of identifying the best candidates for clinical positions. Michael Pallaci, DO; Jennifer Beck-Esmay, MD; Adam R. Aluisio, MD, MSc; Michael Weinstock, MD; Allen Frye, NP; Ashley See, …
Read MoreMore Rationale for Proactive Testing: One Third of COVID-19 Patients Are Asymptomatic
Schools, workplaces, and health clubs have developed screening processes to try to keep their doors open while also minimizing risk to staff and constituents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Questions about shortness of breath, fever, and other symptoms may actually pointless, however, as new research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine reveals that at least one third of patients with COVID-19 may be asymptomatic. On a societal level, this calls into question whether it’s wise …
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