It’s Time to Incorporate Long-Term COVID-19 Effects into Our Collective Thinking

It’s Time to Incorporate Long-Term COVID-19 Effects into Our Collective Thinking

Hard evidence is catching up with anecdote when it comes to assessing the prospects for long-lasting effects of COVID-19. A new article based on review of 57 studies and published by JAMA Network Open reveals that mental health, pulmonary, and neurologic effects are the most likely to prevail in people who have survived SARS-CoV-2. This led the authors to conclude that long-term persistent acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) “must be factored into existing healthcare systems,” …

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Be Mindful of Your Team’s Certification and Training Status—or Be Prepared to Pay the Price

Be Mindful of Your Team’s Certification and Training Status—or Be Prepared to Pay the Price

An urgent care center in New Mexico is learning the hard way that ensuring all the i’s are dotted and t’s crossed matters, regardless of the expertise of your clinicians. Management has been quoted in local media saying that every member of their team is (and has been) up to date on necessary training, but the company still had to pay a $13,500 penalty to settle violations of state-mandated training requirements for x-ray technicians. The …

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That Next AFib Patient with a CIED Will Need to Be Watched—Closely

That Next AFib Patient with a CIED Will Need to Be Watched—Closely

While patients in the midst of atrial fibrillation may feel like they’re having a heart attack, most often their fears are unfounded. Often, an electrocardiogram to confirm there’s no imminent risk and a recommendation to follow up with their primary care provider or cardiologist are enough to put their fears to rest (which can actually be helpful in mitigating the episode). This doesn’t mean there’s no risk associated with AFib, of course. Causative factors need …

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COVID-19 Symptoms Can Actually Help in Differentiating Various Respiratory Diseases

COVID-19 Symptoms Can Actually Help in Differentiating Various Respiratory Diseases

Calling it a “silver lining” might be a stretch, but an article just published in The International Journal of Clinical Practice reveals that COVID-19 can actually provide valuable insights that are useful in distinguishing among chronic respiratory conditions in patients with the virus. Given that a number of those conditions have symptoms in common with each other and with SARS-CoV-2, and that patients with some conditions are more susceptible to severe illness with COVID-19, this …

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As More Communities ‘Open Up,’ Seize Opportunities to Conduct Vaccination Clinics

As More Communities ‘Open Up,’ Seize Opportunities to Conduct Vaccination Clinics

News that COVID-19 cases and related deaths are falling in some parts of the country coincides with fall festival season—meaning more of your prospective patients are going to be milling around blocked-off Main Street perusing crafts and sipping on apple cider. With the pandemic still simmering, however, such community events are also a timely opportunity to offer not only COVID-19 vaccine, but also flu shots. Consensus is that we dodged a “twindemic” last year largely …

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Be Vigilant—Sexual Misconduct Claims Are Bad for All Concerned

Be Vigilant—Sexual Misconduct Claims Are Bad for All Concerned

Where staff and patients of the opposite sex or same-sex orientation are together in private, there is a risk for perceived or actual inappropriate advances, or worse. An urgent care operator in Georgia is grappling with such a situation at this very moment, as a medical assistant was arrested and charged with improper sexual contact by an employee or agent in the first degree. A patient alleged that the MA made “unwanted sexual contact with …

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As the U.S. Sees Progress in Fighting the Pandemic, Confusion Over Booster Shots Rises

As the U.S. Sees Progress in Fighting the Pandemic, Confusion Over Booster Shots Rises

After months of increasing cases of COVID-19, accompanied by rises in associated hospitalizations and deaths, data amassed from state and local health departments by The New York Times indicate that the country may have turned a corner in its fight against COVID-19. From September 22 to October 5, new infections were down to approximately 102,000 per day while deaths fell 22% compared with the previous 2-week period. That good news comes simultaneously with ongoing confusion …

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Patients May Ask for a COVID-19 Booster Shot, but That Doesn’t Mean They Should Have It

Patients May Ask for a COVID-19 Booster Shot, but That Doesn’t Mean They Should Have It

For every person who incorrectly insists the COVID-19 isn’t safe because it was rushed through the approval process there’s one who has already gotten the vaccine and is now teething at the bit to get a booster shot. While it’s unclear at this time what role boosters will play in fighting the pandemic down the road, for now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has specified that urgent care providers and other healthcare professionals …

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COVID-19 Cases Are Dropping in Adults, but Surging in Children. Counsel Parents Accordingly

COVID-19 Cases Are Dropping in Adults, but Surging in Children. Counsel Parents Accordingly

Owing to the facts that adults have been eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine longer than children (with many children still not able to do so) and schools have been back in session for more than a month now, cases among children have grown to the extent that they now make up a disproportionate share of the U.S. caseload. According to data from the American Academy of Pediatrics, children make up 22% of the U.S. …

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COVID-19 May Soon Transition from Pandemic to Endemic—if We Take the Right Steps

COVID-19 May Soon Transition from Pandemic to Endemic—if We Take the Right Steps

The fact that COVID-19 cases in adults continue to occur in great numbers—and (mainly unvaccinated) patients continue to die—may overshadow the fact that the rate of new cases nationally is dropping. As of October 6, according to data collected by The New York Times from state and local health agencies, new daily cases are now at their lowest point since August 6 of this year. This has led Scott Gottlieb, former head of the Food …

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