Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Leg Strength May Be A Clue For Heart Failure After ACS

The European Journal of Preventive Cardiology recently published research demonstrating that a higher level of quadriceps isometric strength (QIS) was strongly associated with a lower risk of developing heart failure (HF) after acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Researchers studied the relationship between QIS and the risk of developing HF in patients with ACS using HF admissions as the endpoint. QIS is a skeletal muscle strength indicator, and study authors classified 1,053 patients with ACS without prior …

Young Football Player with Sudden Chest Pain

Case A 20-year-old previously healthy man presents with sudden onset of substernal chest pressure after completing football practice. His chest pain is nonradiating, nonreproducible, and nonpositional. He does not have associated palpitations, dyspnea, or diaphoresis. He reports that he has not had recent upper respiratory tract infections or contact with ill people. He does not have a history of using alcohol, tobacco, or illicit drugs. He has no family history of sudden cardiac death or …

Abstracts in Urgent Care: June, 2011

When Should Diagnostic Imaging Be Used for Patients With Low-back Pain? Key point: With low-back pain, the risks associated with X-rays and MRIs often outweigh the benefits. Citation: Daily POEM: imaging for low-back pain: rarely indicated, often harmful. Available at: www.essentialevidience- plus.com. These guidelines are based on a systematic review and meta- analysis of research investigating the usefulness of various im- aging studies in patients with low-back pain. Based on a meta- analysis of six …

Assessing for Life-threatening Chest Pain in the Urgent Care Center

Urgent message: Data show that urgent care centers are becoming a more common destination for patients experiencing chest pain. Immediate recognition of emergent vs. urgent causes may be the make-or-break moment for the patient’s outcome. Jasmeet Singh Bhogal, MD Introduction Evaluation of chest pain always presents as a diagnostic challenge, be it in the outpatient family medicine setting or the hospital emergency department. In fact, urgent care centers occupy a unique position in the equation; …