Practice Management
With the rate of COVID-19 cases and related deaths continuing to slow, there could be a collective sense of hope among the public that Thanksgiving 2021 will see a return to large gatherings without fear of infecting, or being infected by, loved ones. While the U.S. is currently in a healthier situation than it was a year ago, assuming the danger of the pandemic has passed would be both premature and dangerous. Rather, it’s time …
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Urgent message: Shorter urgent care visits are correlated with higher experience scores. The presence of learners does not negatively impact patient experience scores. David Skoglund, MD, MS; Brian Lee, PhD, MPH; and Amanda Montalbano, MD, MPH Citation: Skoglund D, Lee B, Montalbano A. Learner presence does not negatively impact patient experience in pediatric urgent care. J Urgent Care Med. 2021;16(2):30-36. ABSTRACT Objective The number of trainees seeking pediatric educational opportunities in community outpatient settings is …
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Even patients who recover quickly from COVID-19 infection may continue to struggle with brain fog months after they’re past physical symptoms of the virus, according to a new research letter published online by JAMA Network Open. Perhaps most surprisingly, cognitive dysfunction showed up in patients between 38 and 59 years more than 7 months post infection. The data were drawn from the cases of 740 patients tracked through a Mount Sinai Health System registry between …
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Even though rising COVID-19 vaccination rates are helping to slow the spread and severity of the virus, a lot of patients are still putting off care that could help them reduce their risk for serious health consequences. According to a new report from NPR and Harvard University, as aired on Houston Public Radio, as many as one in five American families continue to delay care for everything from routine treatments to serious illness. Seeing as …
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At this time last year, COVID-19 vaccines were still months off and many Americans were grappling with the headaches of remote work and school, social distancing, and acute awareness of their own hygiene practices. One of the few upsides to that was reduction of exposure to seasonal influenza. Consequently, we had a relatively light flu season. Now, however, with several COVID-19 vaccines available and caseloads and hospitalizations slowly coming down, people are getting together in …
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A mom brings her son to an urgent care center because she’s concerned he could have a sinus infection. It would be the quintessential urgent care presentation that resolved successfully in minutes—if it didn’t become a public relations nightmare for the operator and staff instead. The problem began with what one of the nurses referred to as the facility’s “policy” to not treat patients who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19, and the fact that …
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Federal government-imposed travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic are getting both looser and tighter at the same time. Gone is the ban on incoming travelers from 33 other countries—provided those visitors are fully vaccinated. At the same time, however, the new regulations make it harder for unvaccinated American citizens to reenter the country. Whereas previously they could get on a U.S.-bound plane if they could show proof of a negative test within 3 days …
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The good news that COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are on the decline among the general population is being tempered by the fact that cases among children are creeping up, as well as foreboding messages from federal and state health officials. The increase in pediatric infections was not unexpected, given that kids now have a couple of months of in-person school under their belts, and the trend could reverse itself once younger children are able …
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The Food and Drug Administration approved booster doses for COVID-19 vaccines from both Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, while also noting that the boosters can be given interchangeably with any of the other vaccines. There are still conditions regarding who is eligible to receive a booster, however. Patients who got two doses of the Moderna vaccine are eligible for a third dose of any COVID-19 vaccine at least 6 months after they received their second …
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Despite beating the drum for several weeks, the Urgent Care Association reports that it has seen low response to an advocacy alert regarding imminent Medicare payment cuts to physicians. The Association is pleading with urgent care professionals to ask their senators and representatives to fight a nearly 10% reduction likely to occur by the end of this year. A bipartisan effort to discourage the reduction is being led by Congresswoman Ami Bera, MD (D-CA) and …
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