Identifying Common Rashes in Urgent Care: A Case Study Approach for APRNs

Course overview

Family nurse practitioners (FNPs) and emergency nurse practitioners (ENPs) care for patients with many ailments in the emergency department (ED). Some patients with low acute conditions make many ED visits, which contributes to service overcrowding and a large number of visits classified by providers as inappropriate (Pacheco et al., 2019). Most emergency departments have an area for minor injuries and acute exacerbations of chronic conditions. Fast-track and urgent care centers are typically staffed by nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician associates (PAs). Some primary care offices provide urgent care visits as walk-ins. Dermatological complaints constitute 5%-8% of all emergency department (ED) visits (Kilic et al., 2019). In one study, more than half (58.9%) of dermatologic ED visits were due to cellulitis plus abscess (Nadkarni et al., 2016). Knowing common dermatologic presentations may help providers educate patients about the proper care for skin conditions and potentially impact ED utilization. The purpose of this course is to characterize the most common dermatologic diagnoses in the urgent care setting. The goal is to build provider confidence in assessing, diagnosing, and treating rashes in the urgent care setting.¿