Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

How Useful Is Ultrasound in Acute Female Pelvic Pain?

Andrew Alaya, MD, MSc Urgent Message: For time-sensitive diagnoses related to acute pelvic pain, ultrasound is generally the recommended initial diagnostic imaging study. While not universally available in urgent care, it can often be completed more rapidly than computed tomography or magnet resonance imaging. Citation: Alaya A. How Useful Is Ultrasound In Acute Female Pelvic Pain? J Urgent Care Med. 2024;18(7):35-40 Introduction Acute pain in the pelvic or lower abdominal region among women of reproductive …

Abstracts in Urgent Care – September 2023

How Long Should We Prescribe Antibiotics for Pediatric UTI? Take-Home Point: Children receiving 5 days of antibiotics for urinary tract infection (UTI) had a higher rate of treatment failure that children receiving 10-day courses. However, absolute treatment failure rates were low in both groups. Citation: Zaoutis T, Shaikh N, Fisher B, et. al. Short-Course Therapy for Urinary Tract Infections in Children: The SCOUT Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Pediatr. 2023 Jun 26; e231979. Relevance: There have …

Is It Appendicitis? The Role of Clinical Scoring Systems, Labs, and Diagnostic Imaging

Urgent message: Ultrasound can provide essential data in the urgent care evaluation of suspicion of acute appendicitis. Facilitating a rapid diagnosis allows for immediate and appropriate decisions regarding management. Andrew Alaya, MD, MSc INTRODUCTION Appendicitis is thought to be the result of luminal obstruction due to various etiologies (such as lymph node hyperplasia, coprolites, or parasites) which lead to increased mucus production and bacterial overgrowth. This results in wall tension and eventually necrosis and potentially …

How Useful Is Ultrasound in Diagnosing Ovarian Torsion?

Urgent message: Ultrasound can provide essential data in the urgent care evaluation of abdominal pain, aiding in the diagnosis of intestinal abnormalities, urinary tract infection, and obstetrical and gynecological problems such as suspected ovarian torsion. Andrew Alaya, MD, MSc Introduction Abdominal pain is one of the most common complaints among women of childbearing age who visit urgent centers. Urinary tract infection, diarrhea, constipation, acute viral gastroenteritis (AGE), pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), and dysmenorrhea are the …

How Useful Is Ultrasound in Diagnosing Extrauterine Gravidities?

Urgent message: Ultrasound can provide essential data in the urgent care evaluation of gynecological and obstetrical problems, such as suspected ectopic pregnancy (and is the test of choice for first-trimester pregnant women with abdominal pain or vaginal bleeding). Andrew Alaya, MD, MSc and Harold Pelikan, MD INTRODUCTION An ectopic pregnancy or extrauterine gravidity (EUG) is a pregnancy that implants outside of the uterus. In 90% to 95% of EUGs, the pregnancy lies in the fallopian …

Abstracts in Urgent Care – July/August 2021

Faster Diagnosis of STIs Reduce ED Referrals for SVT Kids’ Dental Pain and Quality of Life Ultrasound-Guided Blocks and Renal Pain EI as a Leadership Attribute in Physicians Avijit Barai, MBBS, FACEM, FRNZCUC, MRCS, MSc (Critical Care), PgCertCPU Rapid Testing for Sexually Transmitted Infections Take-home point: A point-of-care (POC) test for chlamydia and gonorrhoea proved useful for rapid diagnosis of STI in both men and women. Citation: Van Der Pol B, Taylor SN, Mena L, et …

The Role of Ultrasound for Soft Tissue Infections in the Urgent Care Setting

The Role of Ultrasound for Soft Tissue Infections in the Urgent Care Setting Urgent Message: Abscess evaluation is one of many diagnostic applications of ultrasound that could improve patient care in the urgent care setting. Authors: Staci Shepard, MS-4, and John Shufeldt, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP Staci Shephard is a fourth-year medical student at Creighton University School of Medicine. John Shufeldt, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP, is CEO of Urgent Care Integrated Network and sits on …

Urgent Care Services Rendered

UCA’S SURVEY COMMITTEE drew two important conclusions from its first industry-wide survey: urgent care is a growing industry nationwide, and those within the industry are hungry for benchmarking data. In each issue of JUCM, Developing Data will seek to fulfill that need. In this issue, a look at the breadth of services offered by respondents to the survey: