Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Increased Risk for Diabetes Emerges as a Threat in Children with COVID-19

The longer the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the more consequences emerge—including among pediatric patients. Most recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a study indicating that infection with SARS-CoV-2 is associated not only with worsened symptoms of already-diagnosed diabetes, but also with increased risk for newly diagnosed diabetes in patients under 18 years of age. In comparing cases of pediatric patients with COVID-19 (n=80,893) with those who did not (n=404,465), the researchers found a …

We Know Omicron Continues to Wreak Havoc; the Question Is, Do Patients?

The sharp rise in COVID-19 cases attributed to the Omicron variant so close after the winter holidays is a nonscientific (but probably accurate) indicator that people spent a lot of time in tight quarters, unmasked, with others whose immunization or exposure status was unknown to them. The more ominous prospect, given that many individuals got rapid tests (or insisted that visitors do so) before gathering, is that rapid antigen tests may not be much help …

What You Need to Know About the Efficacy—and Availability—of COVID-19 Therapeutics

Due to supply chain concerns and the ongoing rapid rise in COVID-19 cases in the United States, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says it is moving to a weekly allocation cycle for related therapeutics for 3 weeks, starting January 3. HHS says it has stopped allocating bam/ete or Regen-COV to jurisdictions with 80% or more prevalence of the Omicron variant, given that data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate …

Still No ‘Twindemic,’ but Possibly Something Worse

This is the second flu season in a row that the healthcare community has held its breath waiting to see if the United States would be hit with dual widespread outbreaks of COVID-19 and influenza (aka, a twindemic). And so far, in spite of another COVID surge fueled by the Omicron variant, so good on that front. However, public health officials here and in other countries are reporting an increase in flurona—or, simultaneous diagnoses of …

Be Aware: Booster Protection Against Omicron Doesn’t Last as Long as We Might Hope

New data from the UK Health Security Agency indicate that booster shot protection against symptomatic COVID-19 caused by the Omicron variant fades within 10 weeks or so. There’s no indication as to whether that means boosters are any more or less successful at preventing severe disease in those who do become infected with the Omicron variant of the virus. The research shows that providing two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine (available in the UK but …

Opportunity Knocks as Millions More Americans Become Eligible for COVID-19 Boosters

The Food and Drug Administration officially blessed the practice of providing COVID-19 booster shots to 12- to 15-year-old children, as well as for immunocompromised children between 5 and 11 years of age. In the same announcement, the FDA shortened the recommended interval between initial vaccination and boosters for some patients. Based on “new evidence,” the agency suggests that patients who received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine get a booster shot 5 months after completing …

Health Officials Are Looking to Urgent Care to Bail Out Saturated EDs. Can You?

Urgent care as an industry is in a precarious position as the COVID-19 pandemic surge rages on. Driven by the most transmissible variant to date, multiple states and major cities are grappling with their largest caseloads yet. Overcrowding in emergency rooms is so bad that hospital administrators and public health officials from Philadelphia to Iowa are recommending that patients stay away from the ED if at all possible and opt to visit their closest urgent …

HCA Deepens Its Florida Base by Buying MD Now

HCA Healthcare is making significant investments in the Florida healthcare market, with their latest move being to purchase MD Now Urgent Care. Adding those 59 locations comes on the heels of an announcement in November that the company plans to build three new hospitals in Florida, where it already serves 6.4 million patients through 400 affiliated cites across the state. The company says it’s the largest urgent care provider in Florida. Though just made public, …

Time to Presentation for Acute Otitis Media During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Urgent message: Concern over the potential spread of COVID-19 may (or may not) have affected the timeliness with which parents chose to present with children who had symptoms concerning for acute otitis media, thereby throwing the concept of “delayed” antibiotic prescribing into question. Emily J. Montgomery, MD; Brian R. Lee, PhD, MPH; Amanda Montalbano, MD, MPH; Amanda Nedved, MD Citation: Montgomery RJ, Lee BR, Montalbano A, Nedved A. Time to presentation for acute otitis media …

Urgent Care Will Have to Get Creative to Solve Staffing and Pandemic Crises. Are You Up to It?

With the last days of 2021 winding down, some parts of the country are as deeply embedded in the COVID-19 pandemic as they’ve ever been. In New York City, urgent care centers are seeing up to five times their normal volume while at the same time grappling with staffing shortages (which are at least partially due to the virus to begin with). Patients need care for all the “normal” urgent care complaints while locations are …

Login to JUCM