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Heads up! Did you know that September is Concussion Awareness Month and September 15, 2023 is Concussion Awareness Day? And did you know that the Urgent Care Association (UCA) and the College of Urgent Care Medicine (CUCM) have joined the Concussion Awareness Now (CAN) coalition? CAN has initiated a public service campaign to educate the public on the dangers of head injuries and the importance of seeking a medical evaluation following a head injury. Concussions affect more than 3.8 million people a year and patients with head injuries frequently present to Urgent Care centers for treatment. In the future, we will be developing resources to help clinicians improve management of head injuries in the Urgent Care setting. In the meantime, check out the Melon Family at Concussion Awareness Now, a site that provides an entertaining but informative spin on the dangers of head injuries.
The CAN Coalition is asking all of us to go to their website to join their cause by becoming a concussion Awareness Now Champion. Join here.
As summer fades into fall, the College is busy preparing for our 2024 Urgent Care Association convention. Several of the CUCM board of directors will rotate off the board due to term limits. Thus, the College is looking for leaders who are passionate about advocating and growing Urgent Care as a specialty. If this is you, we encourage you to run for a CUCM board position! Additionally, we are looking for dynamic speakers who want to share their clinical knowledge at the 2024 Convention. If you are interested, please let us know by filling out a Session Proposal.
This year, the College published an Urgent Care competency list which lists the skills we believe are necessary to be an effective Urgent Care provider. Later this year, we plan to release a clinical competency exam in partnership with Hippo Education to assist providers with knowledge gap analysis.Â
Finally – hang in there! – many of us are facing high volumes due to yet another COVID-19 surge. With cold and flu season around the corner as well as continued staff shortages and burnout, this may be a challenging couple of months. Please do not hesitate to reach out to your fellow College members for support or advice! We are all here for each other.
