Practice

Twitter, Instagram, Facebook…all social media platforms, actually, tend to bring out their users’ most volatile tendencies. And the COVID-19 pandemic seemed to magnify the problem, according to the results of a survey published by JAMA Network Open. Pre-pandemic, one survey found that 23.3% of physicians reported being “attacked” on social media, most often due to views they expressed concerning firearms, vaccinations, and abortion access. Now, however, 88% of the 359 physicians who met the inclusion …

Texans know it’s going to be hot once June rolls around. What they don’t expect is for longstanding records for high temperatures to be broken multiple days running across the state. They’re not alone, though; according to the National Weather Service, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida are all experiencing higher-than-normal temperatures for this time of year. With any extreme weather conditions, of course, comes an increase in related health crises—in this …

Like x-ray technologists, physicians, and advanced-practice providers, mental health professionals are harder to find all the time—leaving the country mired in a mental health crisis. Patients have to wait weeks or longer to get help when they’re at their most vulnerable. As JUCM News readers know, urgent care has been mentioned frequently as a possible venue to help defuse the situation, though exactly how that could work on a widespread basis has yet to be …

Patients who are part of the LGBTQI+ communities are notoriously underserved by the healthcare industry in the United States. You’re probably already aware of that. Have you considered, however, that actually demonstrating your support for such patients could also go a long way toward building loyalty, goodwill, and security among staff members? To that end, the Urgent Care Association is choosing Pride Month, which is observed every June, to make the urgent care industry aware …

As kids count the days until schools get out for the summer, parents may be scrambling to meet requirements for pre-camp physicals and address vaccination shortfalls. As such, some urgent care operators see this time of year as an opportunity to build foot traffic and gain new patients. Cottage Urgent Care in Santa Barbara Country, California is one. As reported by the Santa Barbara News-Press, Cottage offers discounted physicals for local students signed up for …

As restaurants, hotels, and bars in beach towns and other warm-weather travel destinations spring back to life after winter dormancy, ski areas are preparing for their off season. Either way, it’s likely urgent care centers are also scaling up or down in anticipation of seasonal changes in their patient populations. Tahoe Forest Health System’s urgent care locations in Tahoe City and Truckee, CA, and Cape Cod Healthcare’s UCC in Osterville, MA are two among many …

At the outset of a quality-improvement project at Intermountain Health’s urgent care network,  48% of patients received a prescription for antibiotics; by the end of the project, that figure was down to 33%. As reported in a paper published by JAMA Network Open, the interventions credited with that reduction included educating providers and patients; employing various EMR tools; a benchmarking dashboard that was accessible to all providers; and a media campaign. The data reflected 493,724 …

Patients come to your urgent care center for very important, personal, and specific reasons—most often because they’re ill or injured and need your help. So, it’s only logical that they would need a compelling reason to leave before they’ve even been seen by one of your providers. According to the results of a survey by the Urgent Care Association, the top reason is one that could be controllable to a large degree; wait time was …

Not too long ago, we shared news about a Mayo Clinic Proceedingsstudy that found only 57.1% of respondents would choose to become a physician again. That should have come as no surprise, in light of other pieces of the data—particularly the revelation that 62.8% of respondents claimed at least one manifestation of burnout. Now comes news that many clinicians may be either dealing with or trying to prevent going down that road by cutting back …

It’s unlikely that an urgent care operation could build a robust marketing presence without savvy use of social media. From basic Facebook pages to more sophisticated use of Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and other platforms, the only real limits are in the user’s field of vision. The same source of potentially rich rewards is also a minefield where one misstep can ruin the center’s reputation, however. The same goes for individuals within the operation, of course. …