Perspectives

Lyndsie Watkins, PA-C, FCUCM Lyndsie Watkins, PA-C, FCUCM, is lead PA for Northwell Health GoHealth Urgent Care East Region, a director of its fellowship program, and co-director of the GoPrepare emergency preparedness programing. Picture this: It’s a busy day in your urgent care (UC). You’re moving along steadily, seeing patients back-to-back. Unexpectedly, there is a commotion as a woman is brought in from the neighborhood right in front of the building. She appears unconscious, and you notice her staggard breathing. No one seems to know what happened prior to finding …
Read More

Roger Hicks, MD I live in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in Northern California, where, like numerous other parts of the world, extreme weather events are becoming increasingly routine occurrences. The “hot days” are hotter and more abundant, and the droughts are more severe. In turn, this has precipitated more wildfires, which lead to problematic smoke and hazardous air quality. When I opened my urgent care (UC) clinic 24 years ago, I never thought that I would be caring for climate change refugees, yet that is exactly what happened …
Read More

Ivan Koay MBChB, MRCS, FRNZCUC, MD Optimal team dynamics play a key role in productivity and enterprise success. The importance of a well-functioning team is evident every day in urgent care centers (UCCs). Increasingly, rapid turnover of UC staff is becoming normative, and changes in team composition can have significant impact on how well a team functions. Whether from daily shift changes or staff joining or leaving the organization, such changes require adaptations both for the loss of old team members and in the efforts to determine appropriate roles when …
Read More

Jeanne Marconi, MD Over the past 20 years, and more recently throughout the pandemic, suicide rates in the United States have generally been increasing; this has been especially true among adolescents and young adults.1 Despite improvements in recognition and appreciation of the impact of mental health issues, suicide rates continue to climb in America. Healthcare centers, whether inpatient or outpatient, have the unique opportunity to identify patients at-risk for self-harm and to intervene. These opportunities can occur wherever patients seek care with the use of appropriate tools. Given the number …
Read More

Commuting in Jakarta can be a nightmare. The average citizen in Indonesia’s capital city spends weeks stuck in urban transit each year. Compare this with Singapore, which is consistently rated one of the best cities in the world for commuters. The difference between the day-to-day experience of residents of each city is stark. The root cause of why these two metropolises of southeast Asia have such disparate commuter experiences lies in the contrast of how they were planned. Jakarta’s growth unfolded haphazardly in the 20th century, driven by whatever flukes …
Read More