Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Abstracts in Urgent Care – March 2022

When Handlebar Meets Abdomen Corticosteroids and Asthma Antibiotics in Pediatric PAC Surfactant Use in AOM COVID Pneumonia and Disease Progression Neutralizing Antibodies in COVID Pediatric Abdominal Injuries from Handlebars Take-home point: Handlebar impact is a high-risk mechanism for serious intraabdominal injury in children and necessity of operative intervention is common. Citation: Vanderwalle R, Barker S, Raymond J, et. al. Pediatric handlebar injuries: more than meets the abdomen. Pediatr Emerg Care. 2021;37(9):e517-e523. Relevance: It is important …

Abstracts in Urgent Care – February 2022

Surgery—or Not—for Appendicitis? Oral Analgesics and Musculoskeletal Extremity Pain What Patient Don’t Know About Ionizing Radiation Risk with NSAIDs, Cox-2 Inhibitors, and Opioids in Fractures Inhaled Budesonide for COVID-19 Spread of COVID-19 within the Household Ivan Koay MBChB, FRNZCUC, MD Nonoperative Management of Acute Appendicitis Take-home point: This study adds to a growing body of literature suggesting that, in select patients, a nonsurgical approach to appendicitis management leads to similar outcomes. Citation: The CODA Collaborative …

Time to Presentation for Acute Otitis Media During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Urgent message: Concern over the potential spread of COVID-19 may (or may not) have affected the timeliness with which parents chose to present with children who had symptoms concerning for acute otitis media, thereby throwing the concept of “delayed” antibiotic prescribing into question. Emily J. Montgomery, MD; Brian R. Lee, PhD, MPH; Amanda Montalbano, MD, MPH; Amanda Nedved, MD Citation: Montgomery RJ, Lee BR, Montalbano A, Nedved A. Time to presentation for acute otitis media …

Abstracts in Urgent Care November 2021

POCUS in Ocular Presentations Experiencing—and Handling—Patient Biases Self-Swabbing for STIs CAM Boots for Toddler’s Fracture? Treating Children with Bronchiolitis Azithromycin in COVID-19 Point-of-Care Ultrasound for Eye Examination Take-home point: Ocular ultrasound (OUS) can be a quick, safe, and effective way to assess eye complaints and complements the clinical exam. Citation: Manton J, Henry C. Benefits to utilising ultrasound in examining the eye. Emerg Med Australas. 2021;33:745–747. Relevance: As availability of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) becomes more …

COVID-19: New Zealand’s Urgent Care Story

Stephen L. Adams, MBChB, FRNZCUC Like the rest of the world, New Zealand (and more particularly its healthcare system) has been changed, perhaps irrevocably, by COVID-19. Despite a relatively small direct effect on the population (0.06% infected, half of which were identified and isolated at border) with 0.0004% deaths1 (including one physician), the effects on primary care have been substantial. THE BEGINNING New Zealand clinicians were first notified of the Wuhan cluster in January 2020. …

Will Urgent Care Visits return to ‘Normal’ as the Pandemic Turns Endemic?

In spite of the fact that urgent care was overlooked as an essential partner in the fight against COVID-19 in the early days of the pandemic, the virus had a major impact on the complaints that drove patients to visit an urgent care center. In fact, according to JUCM research, most of 2019’s top 5 chief complaints fell by at least half as a proportion of all urgent care visits. COVID-19, which was essentially a …

Return to Sports in the COVID-19 Era: A Clinical Review

Urgent message: The COVID-19 worldwide pandemic has changed sports as we know it. Returning athletes back to sport safely continues to be widely debated among physicians in cardiology, primary care, infectious disease, and sports medicine. The return-to-play process after a COVID-19 infection will depend on the severity of their infection, duration of symptoms in the context of any concerning past medical history, and/or family history. Brian Harvey, DO and Natalie Stork, MD CASE PRESENTATION A …

Abstracts in Urgent Care – October 2021

Duration of UTI Treatment in Men Acute Respiratory Illness in Children Isopropyl Alcohol for Acute Nausea in Adults Neurological Events and Metronidazole Prescribing Do the Modified Sgarbossa Criteria Offer Advantages Over the Original? Safety of a Second COVID-19 Vaccination Dose in Patients Who Had a Reaction to the First How Long Should We Treat UTI in Men? Take-Home Point: In afebrile men with UTI symptoms, a 7-day course of ciprofloxacin or trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole was noninferior to …

The Unvaccinated Aren’t the Enemy

Taylor wore her embroidered sorority sweatshirt and a mask below her nose when she came to see me. She was 19 and had just finished her freshman year at the local university. Her story was cliché, as well: cough, runny nose, and sore throat “that wouldn’t go away.” She’d been sick for 8 days and she’d come in to get antibiotics. This isn’t a story about antibiotic stewardship, though. “Have you been tested or vaccinated …

A 31-Year-Old with Cough and Decreased Breath Sounds

The patient is a 31-year-old woman who presents with new-onset cough and decreased breath sounds to the lower lobes. View the image taken and consider what your diagnosis and next steps would be. Resolution of the case is described on the next page.