Maureen McCaffrey, PA-C
You know the feeling: the clinic is about to close, you're exhausted and hungry, and the patient in front of you looks 'mostly' fine. This is the real job: making high-stakes calls when resources are stripped down; no telemetry, no CT, just you and your gut.
If you’re a seasoned urgent care clinician, chances are you've had a patient ask about sinus rinses. Maybe they heard about neti pots from a friend, or maybe they’re desperate for relief after yet another round of congestion. As common as these devices are, they’re often misused, sometimes in ways that can cause more harm than good.
A weary parent walks into your urgent care clinic, eyes heavy from too many sleepless nights. “This cough just won’t go away,” they say. The child beside them is tired too—persistent, wet coughing for weeks, difficulty keeping up with peers, and no end in sight.
Patients with URI symptoms are pouring into urgent care. Patient after patient with similar complaints can feel like you’re on rinse and repeat all day long.
Her scream reached a pitch I had never heard from her before. It was nine in the evening, and she was playing with her sister, engaged in lively roughhousing before bedtime. When I hurried out of the kitchen, I found her lying on her back, clutching her leg, and there was no mistaking a patellar dislocation. Without hesitation, I switched into urgent care mode, aided by my husband, and successfully reduced her patella. Seeing a dislocated...
Does anyone else find themselves relying heavily on your EMR system's medication interaction checker when prescribing medications or considering medication management? If you're like me, it’s a vital part of my workflow.
Treating acute pain is a challenge we face during every urgent care shift. We’re all aware of the devastation that the opioid crisis has had on millions of people worldwide. And this epidemic - marked by addiction, overdose, and unintended consequences - has highlighted the need for alternative treatments to manage pain. As clinicians, we regularly encounter patients wanting or expecting opioids to treat their pain. For years, opioids were...