Tiny Ingestions, Big Worries: Navigating High-Risk Pediatric Foreign Body Ingestions in Urgent Care

As an urgent care clinician, I’ve handled my fair share of foreign body ingestions. But nothing quite prepares you for when the patient is your own child. One late night, just as I had finally settled in with Netflix, my seven-year-old son appeared at the top of the stairs—wide awake when he should have been fast asleep. If you’ve read my previous blog about Mycoplasma Pneumonia, you won’t be surprised to hear it was the same child. Out of...

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Carbon Monoxide Poisoning: A Silent Threat in Urgent Care

Winter is here, and 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. 

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Pediatric Headache Red Flags

The Challenge of Pediatric Headaches

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New Year, New Look—But the Same Hippo You Know and Love

At Hippo Education, our mission has always been simple: 

Empower the people of medicine to learn, grow, and thrive through education and community.

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Tech in Medicine: Are Smartwatches Changing the Way We Practice?

Smartwatches and other wearable fitness trackers are everywhere—and they’re doing way more than counting steps. These devices now track heart rate variability (HRV), flag irregular heart rhythms, and even record single-lead ECGs. Cool, right? But what happens when a patient walks in with their wrist buzzing and a bunch of data they want us to interpret? Let’s dive into the world of wearables and what they mean for us as healthcare...

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Pertussis Primer: What Clinicians Need to Know as Cases Surge

With pertussis cases on the rise, it's time to brush up on best practices for diagnosing, treating, and containing this highly contagious respiratory infection.  Aside from thinking of the song, “Whoop there it is” whenever I hear pertussis, and the fact that it’s one of the only things Azithromycin is still good for, the rest of the details about this disease were buried in the back of my brain! 

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Dang It, Dengue!

Dengue fever has been on the rise all over the world, with more cases than usual in many countries, including the United States. 2024 was a “banner year” for dengue, with up to 400 million cases worldwide and up to a 2000% increase in cases in different regions compared to the year beforehand. While most cases are mild, severe cases of dengue fever can lead to death. It’s important for front-line clinicians who see sick patients in...

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Understanding Sialolithiasis: Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment

What is sialolithiasis?

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When Little Lungs Meet a Big Problem: Mycoplasma Pneumoniae

Unfortunately, my son was part of the initial Mycoplasma pneumoniae outbreak that hit in the fall of 2023. We had just returned from a family cruise – bringing back more than just souvenirs. While most of my family tested positive for COVID post-cruise, my son kept testing negative. However, his cough and fever lingered just enough to keep my PA instincts and Mom Radar on high alert. Let’s dive into reviewing a condition that has made an...

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Fiber: Your Best Friend or Worst Enemy? A Quick Guide

We’ve all done it—given patients the standard advice to “increase your daily fiber intake” without a second thought. After all, it seems like a simple, harmless suggestion, right? But what does it actually mean to crank up the fiber, and when should you rethink the recommendation? 

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A Novel Approach to Prevent STIs: Doxycycline PEP

Bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs), such as gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis, are increasing across the United States. In June 2024, the CDC announced new recommendations for a novel approach to combat this rise by using doxycycline as post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). You may be familiar with using PEP to prevent viral infections like HIV or pregnancy, but this represents a new public health strategy for bacterial infection...

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Time Management Pearls for Clinicians: Optimizing Efficiency

As healthcare professionals, our days are filled with many tasks, such as patient encounters, documentation, and administrative work, not to mention keeping track of a household or family. Time management becomes crucial in ensuring that we provide quality care while maintaining our well-being. In this blog, we'll explore some valuable pearls for efficient clinical time management, and I’ll note some tips that have worked well for me.

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