News Briefs

Relevant UC Updates

As part of its strategic initiative, Arkansas Children’s Hospital will be opening its first urgent care center in Summer 2016. ACH has operated on a fast track as part of its emergency department for over 25 years, but this will be the first dedicated, off-site urgent care center operated by the hospital. 

The new urgent care center will be located in West Little Rock, approximately 20 minutes from the downtown ACH main campus. It will move into existing ACH clinic space currently being used during the day by several specialty clinics. Operating hours will be 4:00-10:00 pm Monday through Friday, and 11:00 am-10:00 pm on Saturday and Sunday.

The current ED-based fast track sees approximately 13,000 patients per year, and market estimates predict 8,000 visits per year at the new urgent care center. Future plans to expand the ACH urgent care network include opening future sites throughout central, northeast, and northwest Arkansas over the next five years.

Relevant Research Updates

Amanda Montalbano, our chair for the SPUC Research Workgroup, is also the research group leader for the AAP SOEM Subcommittee on Urgent Care. Contact her if you are interested in joining either of these groups. amontalbano@cmh.edu

Current plans for research projects include asthma care, emergency readiness, and provider benchmarking. Also, Amanda will be sending out a survey for business data in pediatric urgent care. This will be the first of many surveys collected for the Organization of Urgent Care Health (OUCH) database. This data will be available for other researchers with IRB approved protocols.

Other research coming from UC providers include: UC and PCP usage, provider benchmarking, respiratory outpatient clinics in bronchiolitis, just to name a few!

Sign Up for a SPUC Workgroup

Want to make a difference in our developing specialty of Urgent Care Pediatrics?
Join one of our SPUC workgroups!

Research                                            
Amanda Montalbano    
amontalbano@cmh.edu

Clinical Advisor                                 
Magna Dias                        
Diasm@email.chop.edu

Meeting/CME Planning                
Mike Moran                      
mjmoran@cmh.edu

Newsletter                                        
Usha Sankrithi                  
usha.sankrithi@seattlechildrens.org

Membership                                     
Usha Sathian                     
usha.sathian@choa.org

Call for Articles and Newsletter Items

SPUC publishes a quarterly newsletter in order to encourage information-sharing between SPUC members and to spread relevant pediatric UC information.  The newsletter is distributed electronically and will only become more valuable with member contributions.

Our aim is to highlight information that is relevant for those practicing pediatric urgent care in any setting—academic or private, stand-alone or hospital-based.

We are calling for articles and newsletter items for our next edition that fit into the following categories:

  • Interesting case reports:  Share your experiences with fellow SPUC members.
  • Members in the news:  Have you just opened your urgent care? Were you asked by your local news station to inform the public about this year’s flu season? Did you publish an article or present an abstract at a conference? Share the news with SPUC!
  • Peds UC Updates: Share information about recent publications of interest, links to news items, and reports relevant to pediatric UC.
  • SPUC Member Profile: Share your story with fellow SPUC members—how did you find your way to practicing pediatric urgent care?
  • News and Events: Share information about upcoming conferences, forums, and trainings related to pediatric UC.

The SPUC newsletter is meant to be a collaborative publication—we would love to hear from you!

Please contact Editor Jennifer Johnson with any questions.  Thank you for being involved!

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