Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Two-Dose Shingles Vaccine Shows Long-Term Effectiveness

A real-world study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases found that two doses of the adjuvanted recombinant shingles vaccine was estimated to be 74% effective at preventing herpes zoster (HZ) and 84% effective at preventing postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) in U.S. adults aged 50 years and older. The study, conducted by researchers from Kaiser Permanente Southern California (KPSC) in collaboration with the vaccine’s manufacturer GSK, evaluated the long-term effectiveness of the recombinant zoster vaccine. Researchers followed participants …

COVID’s Sore Throat Symptoms Mimic Strep Pharyngitis

Urgent care visit volumes continue at a predictable summer pace, but certain states have seen a rise in COVID-19 diagnoses, according to exclusive data from Experity. In fact, patients with COVID are presenting with symptoms that mirror strep pharyngitis, making it harder to tell the difference without testing. Arizona has the top positivity rate in the country at 24.2%, as of July 6, 2025. From mid-May through the beginning of July, the positivity rate has …

ADHD Stimulants Present Risk of Weight Loss in Young Children

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced updates to the labeling of all extended-release stimulant medications indicated for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) because of a known risk of significant weight loss in children under 6 years of age. Clinically significant weight loss (at least a 10% decrease in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention weight percentile) was observed in both short- and long-term studies with extended-release stimulants. The revised labeling will apply to extended-release …

Student Athletes in Florida Must Have ECG Before Playing Sports

A new Florida law now requires that all high school student-athletes receive an electrocardiogram (ECG) before they can participate in school sports programs. Florida is the only state with an ECG requirement as part of sports physicals for students, but others may follow if more high-profile young athletes are treated for sudden cardiac arrest on the sidelines—such as basketball player Bronny James and football player Damar Hamlin. In Florida, youth athletes must be tested in …

Shocking Number of Rural Hospitals At Risk of Imminent Closure

Nearly 800 rural hospitals across the United States are struggling financially with as many as 40% facing the immediate threat of closure, according to an analysis by the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform, which reviewed the most recent hospital cost reports submitted to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services through June 2025. The center’s report categorizes rural hospitals into 2 levels of financial risk: those generally at risk; and those in immediate …

Two States Have Now Adopted ‘Physician Associate’ Title

Maine this month enacted legislation to change the professional title typically known as “physician assistant” (PA) to “physician associate.” It is the second state to do so; Oregon adopted the physician associate designation in April 2024. A 2-year advocacy campaign led by the Maine Academy of Physician Associates helped to influence the change, according to a press release. Nationally, the American Academy of Physician Associates (AAPA) voted in 2021 to adopt “physician associate” as the …

Vaccinate Mom During Pregnancy To Reduce The Risk Of Infant Influenza

A retrospective cohort study of 245,498 infants born within the Kaiser Permanente system in Northern California between 2011 and 2022 found that maternal influenza vaccination during pregnancy significantly reduces the risk of infant influenza in the first 6 months of life, as published in Obstetrics & Gynecology. Overall, maternal vaccination was associated with a 44.4% reduction in influenza incidence among infants (95% confidence interval, 31.4–54.9%). Effectiveness varied by timing of the vaccine. Vaccination during the …

New Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis For HIV Offers Twice-Yearly Dosing Regimen

The Food and Drug Administration last week approved lenacapavir, a twice-yearly injectable HIV-1 capsid inhibitor, as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for adults and adolescents weighing at least 35 kg. The product is the first twice-a-year PrEP option available in the United States, according to a press release from manufacturer Gilead. It offers an advantage over daily oral PrEP because it requires less frequent dosing, which could lead to better adherence. Clinical trials published in The New …

Deadly Falls For Older Adults Increase Significantly

In 2023, the unintentional-fall death rate for U.S. adults aged 65 years and older was 69.9 per 100,000, with those over age 85 seeing the highest increases in fall mortality over the previous 10 years, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). From 2003 to 2023, death rates for men 65 and older increased sharply from 14.3 per 100,000 population in 2003 to 24.7 in 2023, and the rate …

Compression Plus Ventilation CPR Is Best For Overdose Cardiac Arrest

In cases of cardiac arrest associated with an opioid overdose, outcomes may be improved if bystander CPR is administered that includes both mouth-to-mouth rescue breathing as well as chest compressions, according to a large cohort study of 10,923 out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) cases in British Columbia. As published in JAMA Network Open, researchers investigated the impact of bystander CPR techniques on neurologic outcomes, including among opioid-associated OHCA (OA-OHCA) cases. Of the 1,343 OA-OHCA cases studied, …

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