Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

When to Consider Idiopathic Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus in the Older Urgent Care Patient

Urgent Message: The features of idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus are easily attributed to normal aging, so the diagnosis is frequently missed. Clinicians should know when to suspect the syndrome, how to evaluate for it, and how to refer to a specialist for diagnosis confirmation and management. Keywords: idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus; gait disturbance; urinary incontinence; cognitive impairment; ventriculomegaly; older adults; urgent care Kenneth V. Iserson, MD, MBA, FACEP, FAAEM Abstract Idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) …

Urgent Care Evaluation and Management of Acromioclavicular Separation

Urgent Message: Urgent care management of acromioclavicular joint separation consists of patient education on immobilization and pain management with consideration for emergency department referral when red flags are present. Jerome Walsh, BS; Clinton Hartz, MD; Michael B. Weinstock, MD Keywords: acromioclavicular joint separation; ac joint injury; shoulder trauma; rockwood classification; shoulder injury; urgent care Questions for the Clinician at the Bedside Editor’s Note: While the images presented here are authentic, the patient case scenarios are …

Infant Protection From Measles Might Wane Sooner Than Expected

A retrospective analysis presented at IDWeek 2026 this month in Washington, D.C., suggests that infants’ maternal protection against measles may decline much earlier than previously believed, leaving many babies susceptible to infection months before their first measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccination, which is recommended at age 12–15 months. As reported in meeting coverage from MedPage Today, researchers analyzed measles antibody levels in maternal-infant pairs and found that although infants had higher neutralizing antibody concentrations …

Triage Should Determine Level of Care, Not Arrival Location

In an opinion article published in Academic Emergency Medicine, an emergency medicine professor at the University of Virginia notes that emergency departments (EDs) have become the default destination for nearly all acute, unscheduled care, even when patients do not require emergency-level services. This approach contributes to overcrowding, inefficient resource use, and care delays for patients with life-threatening conditions. The author, R. Andrew Taylor, MD, MHS, proposes a conceptual engineering framework to redefine emergency care according …

Watch For Unique ‘Tick Bomb’ Bite Pattern

Clinicians might keep an eye out for an unusual dermatologic presentation that is known as a “tick bomb.” This unique tick bite pattern occurs when a person encounters a cluster of newly hatched larval ticks, potentially resulting in hundreds or thousands of tiny insects attaching to the skin at once and presenting as a collection of small red bites concentrated in an area on the skin, according to an analysis in MedPage Today that includes …

Fasting Before Lab Testing Should Be More Nuanced: Study

Fasting longer than 12 hours before a lab test generally does not provide an advantage over fasting for 8–12 hours, according to new research. A large study of routine outpatient laboratory testing suggests that most tests are minimally affected by the length of time that the patient spends fasting beforehand, potentially changing perspectives on uniform fasting requirements. As published in JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers analyzed 9.8 million test results from 101,148 adults using laboratory data …

Addressing Congenital Syphilis With Point-of-Care Testing in Urgent Care

Urgent Message: Urgent care centers can help prevent congenital syphilis by screening pregnant patients lacking prenatal records, confirming reactive point-of-care results, and administering penicillin when follow-up is uncertain. Amir Reza Tehrani, BS; Glenn E. Harnett, MD; Jeffrey D. Klausner, MD, MPH Keywords: syphilis screening; congenital syphilis; point-of-care testing; sexually transmitted infections; pregnant patients; urgent care; rapid diagnostics Abstract Purpose: The purpose of this review is to use clinical, operational, and economic evidence to support integrating …

More Kids Are Using GLP-1 Drugs For Obesity

Use of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists among U.S. children with obesity is increasing rapidly. A national analysis from NYU Langone Health published in Pediatrics found that among children ages 8–11 with obesity and without diabetes, GLP-1 prescribing was 310 times higher in 2026 than it was in 2019 (when the drugs first began reaching the market), with 20,282 children in this age group receiving these medications during the study period. Most treated children had …

Is Myopia a Disease? Medical Groups Might See It That Way

The American Medical Association (AMA) recently agreed with the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) that myopia is an increasing public health concern warranting improved screening in children and prevention efforts, according to a news release from the AAO. Although myopia is not currently considered a disease by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, insurers, or public health programs, the AMA’s support is clear evidence that the disease-model view of myopia has grown beyond the …

Nirsevimab May Help Reduce Antibiotic Prescribing for Newborns and Infants

Researchers examining electronic health record data found nirsevimab administration was associated with reduced antibiotic prescribing among infants during their first respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) season, as published in Clinical Infectious Diseases. Among 15,341 eligible infants from 32 pediatric practices in the study, 7,413 (48.3%) received nirsevimab. At 6 months, nirsevimab was associated with a 14.4% reduction in antibiotic prescribing for outpatient acute respiratory tract infections and a 40.3% reduction for outpatient bronchiolitis. Antibiotic prescribing associated …

« Previous

Login to JUCM