Posts about Urgent Care
We’ve all seen the headline: a student athlete collapses on the field. It’s terrifying every time, and even more unsettling because these are often kids who seemed completely healthy moments before. Stories like these stay with us. They should also remind us why preparticipation screening matters. But on a busy day in clinic when there’s a sports form in front of us, it’s worth the reminder: what are we actually screening for?
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.
Few situations in pediatric emergency medicine require as much preparation, adaptability, and situational awareness as procedural sedation.
It’s the middle of a busy shift when you walk into the room and find your patient cradling their shoulder, equal parts uncomfortable and frustrated. There’s no trauma, no clear inciting event, just a story that starts with mild pain a few weeks ago and has quietly progressed to the point where they can’t reach overhead, can’t get dressed without help, and can’t quite understand what went wrong. You run through the usual differential —...
We’ve all been there. A patient shifts uncomfortably on the exam table, hesitating before admitting what brought them in: “I think I have…hemorrhoids.”
It’s 9 a.m. in urgent care, and your next patient is here for a sore throat. They want a rapid strep test and antibiotics. But we all know that most sore throats are viral, and antibiotics won’t help. That’s exactly why clinical decision tools, such as the Centor and McIsaac criteria, matter. They guide testing decisions, help us avoid unnecessary antibiotics, and keep care efficient on a busy shift.
