UAB has opened a new urgent care orthopaedic clinic, which is run by the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and located at UAB Highlands Hospital. The clinic is open on Mondays and Wednesdays during the startup phase with plans to expand to five days a week later, and focuses on conditions such as hand, wrist and ankle sprains, contusions, general joint pain, and non-operative fractures. It is staffed by advanced practice providers. Orthopaedic surgeons and physicians are available as needed.

"Following initial examination by emergency physicians, those patients with orthopaedic issues that can be best treated in an orthopaedic urgent care setting will be routed out of the emergency department and into the clinic," said Andrea Boohaker, MSN, CRNP-BC, lead advanced practice provider in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. "This will help with overcrowding in emergency departments and get these patients to the most appropriate care providers more efficiently.