Understanding Sialolithiasis: Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment
What is sialolithiasis?
Posts about Urgent Care
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...
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?
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...
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.
First 5 Minutes of Managing Hydrofluoric Acid Burns in Urgent Care
Hydrofluoric acid (HF) is a silent threat – seemingly harmless at first glance but with the potential to cause severe, life-threatening harm. It’s one of those rare exposures that many medical professionals may never encounter, but when it does happen, prompt and precise action is crucial. In this post, we’ll break down the crucial first five minutes after identifying an HF burn and the vital steps that urgent care professionals should...
Introducing Practical Pharmacology: An Outpatient Audio Course
Nowhere is the gap between book learning and clinical practice quite so apparent as in the world of pharmacology. The best medication for Diagnosis X is Drug Y on the boards, but what about when your real-life patient is allergic to that medication? What if they can’t afford it? What if there’s a drug shortage?
Read morePractical Pearls for Head Lice Management
As I walk into the classroom to pick up my young child from school, I am greeted with a battlefield of zombie-like bodies strewn across the colorful carpet. I quickly scoop my son up off the floor, but my heart begins to race, thinking about that communal carpet, and I can’t help worrying about the possibility of head lice…
Soothing the Burn: Essential Tips for Managing Sunburn
Ah, summer—the season of sun-kissed days and outdoor adventures. But all that sunshine comes with an enemy: sunburn. As urgent care providers, you're no strangers to the aftermath of a day spent under the rays. So, how can you best help your patients recover from sunburn and prevent further discomfort?
The DDx for Acute Low Back Pain: SOS
It’s summer, and that is officially the season of the weekend warrior. You know who I’m talking about because you see them every week in your clinic. They decided to take on a new gardening project, a strenuous workout or tried water-skiing for the first time in decades, and now, a few days later they come to you with pain in their lower back.
Identifying and Managing Perichondritis in Urgent Care
In the urgent care setting, we often encounter patients with ear pain, a common yet sometimes deceptively simple complaint. However, amidst the myriad of otitis media and cellulitis cases lies a less common and easily overlooked but significantly more serious condition: perichondritis.
Legal Lessons: Testicular Torsion - A Case with a Twist
Gastroenteritis is a common urgent care diagnosis, but clinicians tend to default to it because they lack a better explanation for a patient's GI symptoms. Don’t fall into the same trap as a fellow urgent care provider from New York who missed a case of testicular torsion masquerading as a benign GI complaint.