“It Hit Me After the Trip”: Recognizing Chikungunya in Clinical Practice
“It all started a few days after I got back from my trip.”
Posts about Urgent Care
Sinus Rinses: Relief in a Bottle—If You Do It Right
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.
Read moreHypoglycemia in the Outpatient Setting
Hypoglycemia is one of the most frequent—and potentially fatal—complications in people with diabetes. It’s something every urgent care and primary care clinician must be ready to manage quickly and effectively. But in the outpatient world, where IV setups may be sparse and you don’t have an entire emergency department team to rely on, what’s the safest and fastest way to handle a crashing blood sugar?
Orthodontic Emergencies in Urgent Care: What You Need to Know
Orthodontic devices are becoming increasingly common among patients of all ages. As a result, urgent care providers are likely to encounter complications involving these appliances more frequently—anything from poking wires to trauma-related bracket dislodgement. Your role is to stabilize the patient, relieve discomfort, and facilitate appropriate follow-up with their orthodontist.
This guide outlines common orthodontic issues encountered...
Atraumatic Spinal Compression Fractures
Am I allowed to say that figuring out atraumatic back pain is a pain in the behind? While the differential diagnosis is wide and we can’t forget all of the life-threatening causes of back pain, atraumatic spinal compression fractures remain among the differential. These fractures can present subtly, without any clear injury, which means urgent care clinicians need a high index of suspicion.
The Febrile Toddler: Diagnosis and Management of Fever in Ages 3 to 36 Months
Few chief complaints in pediatrics are as common—or deceptively simple—as fever in children. Especially when that fever shows up in toddlers without a clear source.
Pyloric Stenosis: Don’t Miss This Classic Diagnosis
Imagine this: a 4-week-old infant is brought to your urgent care with persistent vomiting. The parents are anxious, the baby looks a bit dry, and your differential is wide. Does pyloric stenosis come to mind?
Mental Health Training for Primary Care and Urgent Care
Mental health might not be what we trained for, but in primary care and urgent care, it’s become a core part of the job. Managing anxiety, depression, and ADHD can be a daily challenge, especially when psychiatric support is limited.
Jellyfish Sting in Urgent Care: A Stepwise Guide for Clinicians
It’s a busy summer shift, and someone walks in, limping, pointing to a red, angry welt twisting around their leg. “I think I got stung by a jellyfish.” It’s a classic beach-day-gone-wrong. So—how do you treat a jellyfish sting? Here’s your evidence-based step-by-step guide for urgent care.
To Urgent Care or Not to Urgent Care?
A patient walks into urgent care with chest pain, a head injury, or a bleeding laceration that looks like it’s straight out of a slasher movie—unsure whether they made the right choice by skipping the emergency room.
Legal Lessons: It’s Just a Flesh Wound… or Is It?
In the fast pace of urgent care, lacerations are our bread and butter. A few sutures, a tetanus shot, and a cheerful “all set!” send many patients back out the door feeling stitched-up and satisfied. But some of those patients come back—with more than meets the eye. One of the biggest (and most litigious) culprits? Missed glass foreign bodies in lacerations.
Mind Your Molars: A Clinician’s Guide on How to Fix Fractured Teeth
Let’s face it—traumatic dental injuries are one of those things that we barely learn about during our medical training. And yet, every now and then, a patient waltzes (or winces) into your urgent care with a dental injury, expecting your dental skills to be as sharp as their broken molar. Lucky for us, Dr. Samuel Goldman and Dr. Brett Murray recorded a segment on Urgent Care Rap to help us sink our teeth into the essentials. Whether you’re...