Janae Walsh, FNP-C and Kyla Howrish, FNP-C are two nurse practitioners with Davam Urgent Care in Texas who care a lot about the practice of Urgent Care and the role of Nurse Practitioners in the specialty. In this episode we dig more deeply into their philosophy and hear some details of how their practice is working to elevate the level of care delivered and the importance of community relationship building.

John Koehler is considered one of the founders of urgent care, and was one of the literal founders of the Urgent Care Association.  In this episode we explore the concept of acuity degradation in urgent care, which is just beginning to be quantified but is easily sensed by those of us who have been practicing urgentology for 10-15 years.  We'll consider the causes, and what our responses should be.

Dr. Janell Routh is the Medical Officer and Lead for the Acute Flaccid Myelitis and Domestic Poliovirus Team at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.   Her story and insights into how urgent care  should play its role in diagnosing AFM  are both equally compelling.  Plenty of pearls for all urgent care clinicians and additional resources are below.

CDC info: https://www.cdc.gov/acute-flaccid-myelitis/hcp/clinicians-health-departments/evaluation.html

Downloadable poster about examining kids for muscle weakness: https://www.cdc.gov/acute-flaccid-myelitis/downloads/examining-proximal-muscle-weakness-508.pdf 

Though patients with suspected AFM should be referred immediately to the ED, anyone with questions or particular information about cases can email the CDC at: [email protected]

Dr. Aaron Bright is another emergency medicine doc who's fallen in love with urgent care just like Joe Toscano.  He's the founder and CEO of Hippo Education, which is known as a wildly different kind of medical education - largely because of how great it is.  It's well-known in urgent care circles as the cream of the crop in urgent care provider onboarding.  Listen in as Aaron, Joe and Lou Ellen Horwitz why urgentology as a specialty is so critical and the role of physician leadership in its development.

Dr. Sheila Bloomquist has practiced urgent care across the globe and is also the newest Fellow (and first International Fellow) of the College of Urgent Care Medicine.  Listen in as Joe discovers her story and perspective on urgentology and life.

Kevin Reiter had a unique path into urgent care, starting as a PA, becoming an MD, with some exciting things along the way (no spoilers here) and leading to his current role(s) with Northwell GoHealth Urgent Care directing their urgent care residency program, among other things.  He also had a front row seat to the COVID experience in New York.  Join Joe Toscano in this episode as he gets the full story.

If you think your practice setting is unique, wait until you hear about Tracey's - and what she thinks about the elevation of urgent care medicine, the power of teaching, and how to find balance in your life.

From humble beginnings to tremendous success, Peter's story is not only a reflection of personal perseverance (and the value of a great partnership) but about the early days of urgent care and why so many physicians chose this professional path.  

Michael Pond is one of the true pioneers of emergency medicine and urgent care.  Join me as we get a little emotional and talk about his veterinary days, the early years of urgent care, and what it's like to practice in "way upstate" rural  New York.