Note: Always use best judgment and seek medical attention for all of these types of injuries when needed.

Animal bite

1. Apply pressure with a clean, dry cloth to help control bleeding.
2. Don’t remove pressure. If bleeding doesn’t stop, add more clean, dry cloths.

Broken bone

1. Control bleeding with a sterile bandage or clean cloth until stopped.
2. Immobilize the injured area using a splint, if available.
3. Apply ice packs to limit swelling and help relieve pain.
4. If the person appears to be in shock, have the person lie flat and elevate legs.

Cut or scrape

1. Apply pressure with a clean cloth or bandage to help control bleeding.
2. Don’t remove pressure. If bleeding doesn’t stop, add more clean cloths or bandages.

Child with fever

1. Don’t treat a child’s fever with aspirin.
2. Use Tylenol® or Motrin® as prescribed based on the child’s weight.
3. Apply a cold compress to the child’s forehead and dress the child in light, loose-fitting clothes.

Dehydration

1. Sip small amounts of water.
2. Drink carbohydrate/electrolyte-containing drinks. Good choices are sports drinks such as Gatorade® or prepared replacement solutions such as Pedialyte®.
3. Suck on plain ice chips, or popsicles made from juices and/or sports drinks.
4. Sip through a straw (works well for someone who is recovering from jaw surgery or mouth sores).

Embedded object or foreign body

1. Don’t try to remove the foreign object.
2. Carefully wrap gauze or clean clothing around the area to prevent the object from moving.
3. Apply pressure around the area with a sterile bandage or clean cloth to limit and control bleeding.
4. Don’t remove pressure. If bleeding continues, add more clean cloths or bandages.

Heat exhaustion

1. Individual should rest in a cool, shaded area.
2. Give cool fluids such as sports drinks that will replace lost salt. Salty snacks are appropriate, as tolerated.
3. Loosen or remove clothing.
4. Don’t use an alcohol rub.
5. Don’t give any beverages containing alcohol or caffeine.

Heat stroke

Alert: Unlike heat exhaustion, heat stroke is a medical emergency. You should call an ambulance immediately. Do not attempt to treat a case of heat stroke on your own. You can help while waiting for medical assistance to arrive by doing the following:

1. Move the person to a cooler environment, or place in a cool bath of water as long as the individual is conscious and can be attended continuously.
2. Alternatively, moisten the skin with lukewarm water and use a fan to blow cool air across the skin.
3. Give cool beverages by mouth if the individual can tolerate them.

Knocked-out tooth

1. Handle the tooth by the top only, avoiding touching the root, and rinse it in a bowl of tap water.
2. Try to replace the tooth in the socket and bite gently on gauze or a moistened tea bag to keep it in place.
3. If it doesn’t stay, place it in a bowl of either whole milk, the person’s own saliva, or a warm, mild saltwater solution.

You may not have a situation that would require a frantic rush to the hospital’s emergency room, but you’re still going to need help as soon as possible. Where do you go?

Today, that answer is much easier to answer thanks to the rapid growth of urgent care centers in our communities.

An urgent medical condition is one that is not life-threatening, but nonetheless requires prompt attention. Sprained ankles, most burns and other minor wounds requiring stitches are typical examples of urgent conditions.

Reason for the growth

The first urgent care centers opened in the 1970s and has grown to more than 17,000 nationwide.

Many of those centers were started by doctors who responded to the public need for convenient access to unscheduled medical care. Other centers have been opened by hospitals looking to attract patients.

Much of the growth is also because the cost of an urgent care center is less than it would be to a visit at the hospital emergency room.

The exact number of urgent care centers is difficult to measure, but 97 percent are staffed by full-time physicians and medical staff, according to North American Association for Ambulatory Urgent Care statistics.

The scope of urgent care

Urgent care centers treat many problems that can be seen in a primary care physician’s office, but urgent care centers offer some services that are generally not available in primary care physician offices, for example: X-Ray facilities allow for treatment of minor fractures and foreign bodies, such as nail gun injuries.

Minor trauma rooms in urgent care centers can help with minor and moderate severity lacerations.

Other non-emergency conditions treated at an urgent care center include:

- Twisted or sprained ankle
- Cough, cold or sore throat
- Minor skin rash
- Ear infection
- Cuts, bumps and sprains
- Fever or flu symptoms
- General wound care
- Animal bites
- Mild asthma

Advantages of urgent care

Urgent care centers offer a variety of advantages:

- Allows patients to avoid the long lines at hospital-based emergency rooms.
- Reserves more room for life-threatening injuries and illnesses at emergency rooms.
- Most insurance companies apply a lower co-pay for Urgent Care visits than for emergency room visits.
- Flexible hours; Urgent Care clinics are typically open early, close late, and are generally open on the weekends. Some are even available 24/7 or on-call.
- Typically no appointment is necessary.
- Convenient for patients away from home.
- Patients receive care from the same licensed professionals as an emergency room or Primary Care clinic.

Differences

A primary care clinic may be open for some hours in the evenings and weekends, but unless these centers are always open for walk-in patients, offer on-site X-ray facilities and care for most simple fractures and lacerations — these primary care physician offices are not considered to be true urgent care centers.

Urgent care centers provide significant savings to patients and insurers over the alternative of hospital emergency departments for episodic care that cannot be delayed until an appointment at a physician office is available.

Convenience

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), patient visits to hospital emergency departments currently average 3.2 hours (emergency department overcrowding). Many of the problems currently treated in hospital emergency departments, however, can receive timely treatment in less than one hour in an urgent care center.

About 40 percent of hospital emergency room visits could have been handled at an urgent care center, resulting in less crowded emergency rooms and quicker help. These problems aggravate the overcrowded emergency departments of the country, and many would be better treated in an urgent care center.

At the hospital, the average wait to see a physician is about 40 minutes and can be closer to 50 minutes between noon and midnight.

Common diagnoses

Some of the top diagnoses seen in hospital emergency rooms could easily be handled by urgent care centers.

Here are some of the top diagnoses:

- Infants and children: upper respiratory infections, ear infections, fever, head lacerations, contusions (with the skin intact)
- Teens and young adults: Contusions (skin intact), abdominal pain, lacerations, sprains and strains
- Young adults: Abdominal pain, lacerations, chest pain, contusions (skin intact)

Urgent care hours

Most urgent care centers offer extended hours in evenings and on weekends for patients to receive treatment when their personal physician is not available.

Complement to primary care

By definition, urgent care centers function as overflow valves for the public, when timely appointments to a primary care physician office are not available, or after regular office hours when patients needing immediate attention would otherwise be diverted to a hospital emergency department.

Future developments

Fellowship and residency training is much needed for the rapidly growing specialty of urgent care medicine. The Urgent Care Association is sponsoring the development of university-sponsored fellowships for physicians who are board-certified or board-eligible in a primary care specialty. These physicians will be able to develop and hone clinical and administrative skills to practice excellence in urgent care medicine.

Coding

Urgent care centers do not “establish” patients as do primary care physicians with complete intake history and physical exams. In hospital emergency departments new and established patients are not differentiated, because patients are seen on an episodic basis rather “established” as ongoing patients.

Coding that distinguishes between new and established patients is artificial and forced in the urgent care setting. Thus, a separate set of evaluation and management codes is needed for urgent care.

In summary

Urgent care is a rapidly-growing sector of the health care industry.

It offers timely, convenient and appropriate care to members of the public who have illnesses or injuries that are of an acute nature. Urgent care is appropriate for injuries of an acuity higher than generally seen in a primary care physician office but yet of lower acuity than requiring care in a hospital emergency department. Urgent care also offers an overflow outlet for the public when an appointment is not available at a primary care physician office.

Information provided by The Urgent Care Association of America

Cold and Flu Prevention Tips:

1. WASH YOUR HANDS for at least 20 seconds with soap and water! This is probably the number one thing you can do to prevent illness. Be sure your children are washing their hands often or using hand sanitizer.

2. Don’t touch your face. Even if germs are on your hands, they can’t enter the body unless you touch your eyes, nose or mouth. Teach your children to not touch their faces either. (You will be amazed at how many times you touch your face once you begin to pay attention!)

3. If your doctor recommends it, get a flu shot for your entire family! QuestCare Urgent Care is offering flu shots for only $20 with no appointment necessary. So, it’s fast, easy and effective.

4. Don’t share food, drinks, lipstick/chapstick or toothpaste with other people, even family members. Germs can carry from one person to the other easily.

5. Avoid kissing on the lips of you feel yourself getting sick. (This is especially hard with young children, but try to refrain. Also, try to avoid letting people touch your baby’s hands as well.)

6. Clean doorknobs, bathrooms and children’s toys with disinfecting cleaner often.

7. Yogurt has been shown to stimulate production of an immune system substance that fights disease. So, eat up!

8. Let fresh air into your home at least once a week even if it is extremely cold outside. Studies have shown that the air inside your home is 2 to 5 times worse than the air outside. Allowing fresh air in will help to get stale, unhealthy air out and fresh air in!

9. Get plenty of sleep and drink plenty of water so that your body will be able to fight off illness.

10. STAY HOME IF YOU ARE SICK! No need to spread your germs to others!

SOURCE: WEBMD cold and flu prevention

The first flu shot that works with a less-scary skin prick instead of an inch-long needle is hitting the market this fall. Sorry kids, this option so far is just for adults, and it’s so brand-new that it will take some searching to find a dose.

But there are plenty of the other varieties — standard shots, a special high-dose shot for seniors and the needle-free squirt-in-the-nose option — to go around. At least 166 million doses of flu vaccine are expected to be produced this year.

The big question is whether people will get it. Usually each year’s flu vaccine varies from the previous versions as different influenza strains emerge. This year, the vaccine’s a duplicate because the three flu strains that sickened people last winter still are circulating.

Scientific studies aren’t clear about how much a person’s immunity wanes over a year, although it varies by age and overall health. But federal health officials and the American Academy of Pediatrics weighed the evidence and say don’t skip this year’s vaccination — it’s the only way to be sure your immune system remains revved enough for the best protection.

“You’re not going to be able to count on that vaccine protecting you throughout a second season,” says Dr. Lisa Grohskopf of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A yearly vaccination now is recommended for virtually everyone, except babies younger than 6 months and people with severe allergies to the eggs used to make it. Last year, 49 percent of children and 41 percent of adults were vaccinated.

Say you never catch the flu? You could be a carrier, unknowingly spreading the misery when you feel little more than a sniffle, says Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University, president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.

“You should be vaccinated each and every year to ensure both you’re protected and you’re giving the maximum protection to people around you,” he says.

Here are some questions and answers about flu vaccinations:

Q: How does the new skin-deep vaccine work?

A: Sanofi Pasteur’s Fluzone Intradermal uses a needle less than a tenth of an inch long to inject vaccine just below the skin’s surface. This layer, called the dermis, is so rich in a certain type of immune cell that the new shot uses a lower dose of the same vaccine that’s in regular flu shots. Studies found it triggered as much protection as full-strength muscle shots — although it did cause more skin reactions like redness, swelling and itching. There’s little data on pain perception.

But it’s only for 18- to 64-year-olds. It hasn’t been studied in children’s more-tender skin. Sanofi estimates it will sell less than 1 million doses this year while introducing the newly approved product to doctors, before a full market launch next flu season.

Q: What about the original ouchless flu vaccine, the nasal-spray version?

A: MedImmune’s FluMist is for a different age group, people ages 2 to 49 who are healthy, meaning no one with underlying health conditions or who is pregnant. Unlike flu shots that are made with killed flu virus, FluMist is made with live but weakened virus.

Q: For older adults, does CDC recommend the high-dose shot?

A: The immune system weakens with age so that it doesn’t respond as well to an ordinary flu shot. Sanofi’s Fluzone High-Dose is a standard into-the-muscle shot but it contains four times the usual dose, to spur more immune response in people 65 and older. First sold last year, studies still are under way to track if that translates into fewer illnesses and hospitalizations. It can cause more of the typical flu-shot side effects. The CDC says it’s OK for seniors to choose either a high-dose shot or the regular shots from a variety of manufacturers.

Q: Who’s at highest risk from the flu?

A: Young children, anyone 50 or older, anyone with chronic medical conditions such as asthma and certain heart or kidney problems, and pregnant women. A flu vaccination during pregnancy has the added benefit of passing some protection to the baby.

Q: When should I get vaccinated?

A: Anytime, but it takes about two weeks for protection to kick in. Flu typically starts circulating around November, and peaks around January. Some chain pharmacies started vaccinating a month ago. Next month, Hawaii begins offering free in-school vaccinations for elementary and middle school students.

Don’t put it off too long, says Dr. Scott Gorenstein of Great Neck, N.Y., an emergency physician whose own son Nate, then 4, nearly died of flu during the 2009 pandemic. The boy already had been exposed by the time vaccine finally was available that fall. Now, Gorenstein says the whole family gets inoculated in early fall — even though Nate has developed a vaccine allergy and as a precaution checks into the hospital for his dose.

“We got lucky,” says Gorenstein, who now advises a group called Families Fighting Flu. “You just don’t want to be a statistic that is preventable.”

FLU SHOTS ARE NOW AVAILABLE AT QUESTCARE URGENT CARE!

[SOURCE: Associated Press]

If you haven’t worried about back-to-school shots since your tween or teen was entering kindergarten, better put vaccines on the to-do list.

Older kids need a few new immunizations starting at age 11, including a shot to guard against the worrisome resurgence of whooping cough. And for the first time this year, 16-year-olds are supposed to get a booster shot, too, for a scary type of meningitis.

Many slip through the cracks. One reason: Schools don’t require adolescents to comply with a list of national vaccine recommendations like they do kindergarteners.

Another reason: “Kids this age go to the doctor much less,” says Dr. Melinda Wharton of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who had to scramble to get her own daughter that meningitis shot before she headed to college.

“This whole back-to-school push is a good time for parents to think about their kids in terms of what vaccines are recommended.”

But when it comes to whooping cough, a growing number of states are requiring updated shots as students enter middle school and beyond. A new California law requires a staggering 3 million students to show proof they’re protected as they head back to class.

“It is that kind of effort that’s going to help us stem the outbreaks,” says Dr. Mark Sawyer of the University of California, San Diego.

Aside from an annual flu vaccine, here are federal recommendations for preteens and teens:

—A Tdap shot between ages 11 and 12. It protects against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis or whooping cough — and the latter is key as the cough that’s so strong it can break a rib is on the rise.

Young children get vaccinated before kindergarten but that protection wears off, and pertussis outbreaks in middle or high school no longer are rare. While older kids usually recover, whooping cough can cause weeks of misery — and worse, they can easily spread the bacterial infection to not-yet-vaccinated infants, who can die.

Last year was especially bad for whooping cough, with more than 21,000 U.S. cases and at least 26 deaths. California was hard hit with more than 9,200 cases — the most since 1947 — and 10 babies died.

The new California law aims to ensure everyone entering seventh through 12th grade got a booster at some point. Before the law, about half those students were estimated to be unprotected, says Dr. John Talarico of the California Department of Public Health. With vaccine vans parked at schools and special Tdap lines at some county health departments, an immunization program for the poor and underinsured has been distributing three to seven times more shots than usual in recent months, he says.

—A first dose of what’s called meningococcal conjugate vaccine between ages 11 and 12, with a booster dose at 16.

This fast-moving bacteria can cause meningitis or a bloodstream infection. It’s fortunately rare, causing fewer than 2,000 cases a year. But it can be so aggressive that someone can feel fine one day and be dead the next — and its main targets are adolescents and college freshmen. Why? That’s not clear, but about 10 percent of the population carries the germ harmlessly in their noses and throats. Carriers tend to spread it by coughing, kissing and sharing drinking glasses, especially in crowded conditions like dormitories.

Infection initially mimics a stomach bug, with fever and vomiting. Up to 15 percent of patients die. One in five survivors suffers permanent disabilities including brain damage, deafness or amputated limbs.

CDC’s statistics show that 54 percent of 13- to 17-year-olds had gotten vaccinated by 2009. But the booster dose is new advice — scientists only recently learned that that first dose wears off after five years. So if your child didn’t get vaccinated until, say, 13 and now is 18 and heading for college, Wharton says don’t forget the booster.

—Finally for girls ages 11 to 12, there’s the HPV vaccine for strains of human papillomavirus that can cause cervical cancer. The idea is to start the three doses needed early enough to be fully vaccinated well before the girl becomes sexually active. But in 2009, only 27 percent of girls ages 13 to 17 had gotten all three doses.

“We were very disappointed in those numbers,” Wharton says.

A vaccine version is sold for boys to prevent HPV-caused genital warts, although CDC hasn’t yet recommended its routine use.

Wharton’s final advice: Adolescence is a good time to catch up on any shots that were recommended after your child started kindergarten and thus missed, like the second dose of chickenpox vaccine that became routine for the 5-year-old set just a few years ago.

Source:  Fox News Health

Nutrition experts at UT Southwestern Medical Center say there’s no better way to lower
your blood pressure than by indulging in some of the season’s potassium-rich fruit and
vegetables.

Melons like cantaloupe and watermelon are particularly high in potassium; one fourth a
cantaloupe contains 800 to 900 milligrams of potassium, roughly 20% of the recommended
daily value. Two cups of watermelon contains nearly 10% of the daily recommended value.
Dried apricots, avocados, figs, kiwi, oranges, raisins, dates, beans, potatoes, tomatoes and
even grapefruit are other good sources of potassium.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends that most adults get 4,044 milligrams of
potassium from food and beverages each day.

(Source: American Academy of Urgent Care Medicine)

The symptoms of flu virus include:

• Fever
• Cough
• Sore throat
• Runny or stuffy nose
• Body aches
• Headache
• Chills & fatigue
• Some people may have vomiting or diarrhea

People may be infected with the flu, including 2009 H1N1 and have respiratory symptoms without a fever.

What Should I Do If I Get Sick

If you are diagnosed with the flu

In children, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:

• Fast breathing or trouble breathing
• Bluish or gray skin color
• Not drinking enough fluids
• Severe or persistent vomiting
• Not waking up or not interacting
• Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held
• Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worsening cough

In adults, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:

• Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
• Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen
• Sudden dizziness
• Confusion
• Severe or persistent vomiting
• Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worsening cough

Do I need medication?

Most healthy persons who develop an illness consistent with influenza, or persons who appear to be recovering from influenza, do not need antiviral medications for treatment or prophylaxis.

Treatment is recommended for all persons with suspected or confirmed influenza requiring hospitalization.

Treatment should be considered for persons with suspected or confirmed influenza who are at higher risk for complications including:

• Children younger than 2 years old
• Persons aged 65 years or older
• Pregnant women
• Persons of any age with certain chronic medical or immunosuppressive conditions
• Persons younger than 19 years of age who are receiving long-term aspirin therapy

Prevention & Treatment
Take these everyday steps to protect your health

How the flu virus spreads

Flu viruses are spread mainly from person to person through coughing or sneezing by people with influenza. Sometimes people may become infected by touching something – such as a surface or object – with flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose.

The flu virus is contagious!

People infected with seasonal and the 2009 novel H1N1 flu may be able to infect others from 1 day before getting sick to 5 to 7 days after.

Contamination & Cleaning

Flu virus can stay alive for 2 to 8 hours on:

Cleaning Recommendations

• Throw trash and other disposables used by infected individuals in the trash.  Additionally, anyone touching used items should immediately wash their hands.
• Clean household surfaces and toys with the appropriate disinfectant according to product directions.
• Wash linens, eating utensils and dishes thoroughly before sharing with others.
• Anyone coming in close contract to items that could be contaminated should wash their hands immediately.

Information obtained from the CDC.

Below are some common questions that are asked about the RSV disease:

What is RSV?

RSV is a virus that is the most common cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia in children under the age of one. Most kids have had the infection and been exposed to the virus by the age of two. Infections in older children are milder and usually do not require treatment.

What are the symptoms of RSV?

The illness usually begins with a runny nose and cough. It can be followed in about three days with fever and/or wheezing.

Are there lab tests for the virus?

We do have an in-office test that can determine if your child has the virus. We get nasal secretions from the nose with a swab and have the results in about ten minutes.

What is the treatment for RSV?

The treatment is symptomatic—meaning that we can treat each individual symptom that the child is having. We use acetaminophen or ibuprofen for the fever, bulb suction of the nose for the congestion, upright feedings if that is an issue, and sometimes nebulizer breathing treatments if there is significant wheezing.

Which patients are at increased risk of hospitalization?

Hospitalization may be required if the child is less than six months old, has underlying lung or heart conditions, or has a compromised immune system for any reason. Treatment in the hospital may include supplemental oxygen and breathing treatments, as well as IV fluids if the child is not taking oral fluids well.

At QuestCare Urgent Care, we would be glad to care for your child and their respiratory health needs! Your child will see a physician and be treated with compassion and kindness. We can do the necessary testing including the RSV smear test, give a nebulizer treatment , and even do a chest x-ray if that is needed. We can also facilitate quick and seamless transfer to several local hospitals if that is required. We care for all patients, including newborns!