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Russell W. Raskin, MD · Physician-Designed Protocol

You're in the right place.

You feel sick. We have a plan — and it's a good one.

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Russell W. Raskin, MD
Hi — I'm Dr. Russ Raskin.
If you're here, you're probably not feeling your best right now. I've spent over 25 years in emergency medicine and urgent care. I never planned on becoming an expert in the care of colds and the flu — but here we are. I've seen this before, more times than I ever expected. Let's figure out where you are and what you need.
When did this start?
How are you feeling compared to when this started?
Day 1–2 · Early Initiation
This is a great time to start.
You caught it early. The evidence supports starting immune support as early as possible — particularly for zinc, where timing matters most. Let's get you set up with the right plan and the right tools.
A Few Days In · Plateau Phase
You're in the thick of it — and that's expected.
This is the most distressing part of the curve for many patients — symptoms have stalled, mucus has thickened, and recovery seems distant. That feeling is real. Your immune system is consolidating before the recovery phase begins. The right support now may help move you from plateau to recovery.
About a Week In · Recovery Phase
You may be closer to the end than it feels.
A week in can feel like the most distressing part of the arc — because recovery is taking longer than you expected. That is not unusual for many patients. Let's track your symptoms, watch for any warning signs, and make sure you're on the right path.
10+ Days · Improving
Good news — you're on the right path.
After 10 days, improvement is the right direction. Recovery from a viral URI can take time — sometimes up to three weeks or more for full resolution. Keep going. That said, take a look at our When to Seek Care guide to make sure nothing warrants attention.
10+ Days · Not Improving
At 10 days with no improvement, it's time to take a closer look.
Symptoms that have not improved after 10 days may signal a secondary complication — a bacterial infection layered on top of the viral illness. This is the clinical signal we call double worsening. Please review our When to Seek Care guide and consider seeing a clinician.
10+ Days · Getting Worse
Please review When to Seek Care now.
Worsening symptoms after 10 days is a clinical signal that warrants attention. Please review our When to Seek Care guide immediately. If you are experiencing difficulty breathing, chest pain, high fever that will not break, or any severe symptoms, seek medical attention now.
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Education Platform
Learn Here.
Everything your doctor didn't have time to tell you about your cold. What brings you here today?
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For Clinicians · Peer to Peer
You already know the evidence.
No lecture. Here are the tools.
Clinical content, communication frameworks, and a platform you can recommend to patients — built by a physician who has spent 25 years in the same exam rooms you have.
Communication
How to Deprogram Your Patient
Five beliefs. Five responses. Scripts that work in fifteen minutes — including the traffic light framework for wait-and-see prescriptions.
Read the article
Evidence
The Antibiotic Belief Cycle
Why patients come back certain they need an antibiotic — and how to break the cycle.
Read the HCP version
Systemic Context
A Look Behind the Curtain
The seven forces driving antibiotic overprescribing — and what the data say about breaking the cycle.
Read the HCP version
URI · Bronchitis · Pneumonia
Is It a Cold, Bronchitis, or Pneumonia?
Airway anatomy map, comparison table, when antibiotics are and aren't indicated. Send patients here before the visit.
Read the article
Bronchitis · Peer to Peer
Bronchitis: Cut the Crap
Fifty years of evidence. The therapeutic cabinet is empty — by drug class. PTBD explained. The protocol that actually works.
Read the HCP version
Pharyngitis
Pharyngitis & the Prescription Reflex
Prostaglandin mechanism, dexamethasone evidence (NNT ~5), exam room script, dangerous diagnoses.
Read the HCP version
Post-Viral Cough
What Is With This Cough?
Duration data, trajectory groups, what doesn't work, and what to actually do — including the 85% prescribing reduction finding.
Read the HCP version
Otitis Media
Antibiotics Don't Treat Ear Pain
The red ear reflex, AAP diagnostic criteria, AOM vs. OME, stratified antibiotic decision framework.
Read the HCP version
Communication Tools
Send Them Here
The one-sentence referral that does the deprogramming work after the visit.
Coming soon
The Product
Acute Protocol — Clinical Overview
Coming soon at launch. Distinct mechanisms. Evidence-backed.
Coming soon
From the Physician

"This did not come from a brilliant idea. It came from frustration — years of it, accumulated one patient at a time in an urgent care exam room."

I trained in Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine. For the first half of my career I practiced emergency medicine — high stakes, high volume, the full spectrum of human crisis. Early in that career I watched young, otherwise healthy patients develop antibiotic-associated complications — colitis, allergic reactions, organisms that no longer responded to the drugs we depended on — from antibiotics they never should have been given. That stayed with me.

When I moved to urgent care, I found a different kind of battle: a system that had conditioned patients to expect an antibiotic for every cold, and conditioned many clinicians to provide one. URI patients can make up 80 to 90 percent of what we see in urgent care at certain times of year. Every day felt like the same fight.

R.W. Raskinism

When prescribers compete on willingness to prescribe rather than clinical judgment, the market rewards the one who gives patients what they want over the one who gives patients what they need.

For years, I thought about the placebo effect. Not as a trick — as a clinical reality. You cannot in good conscience prescribe a placebo. So I built something better — a structured protocol designed to give patients what they actually needed from me all along.

"You don't need an antibiotic for a cold. You need a plan."

— Russell W. Raskin, MD · Board-Certified Emergency Medicine & Internal Medicine · R.W. Raskin Health Protocols LLC

Coming October 1, 2026 · Presale September 15

The Complete System.
Offense. Defense. One Philosophy.

Two physician-designed supplement protocols. One for the 340 days a year when you feel fine. One for the moment you feel something coming on. Built on a single principle: possible benefit with little to no risk.

🛡 The Defense · Year-Round
Daily Immune Maintenance
Physician-Designed · Daily Protocol

The goal is to keep you off the arc in the first place. Daily immune maintenance for the 340 days a year when you feel fine — and most people do nothing. A physician-designed supplementation protocol, formulated from the ground up on published clinical evidence.

⚔ The Offense · Acute Use
Acute Immune Support
Physician-Designed · 7-Day Protocol

What you reach for when you feel something coming on — or soon thereafter. A structured 7-day physician-designed supplementation protocol for the first days of illness. Multiple ingredients, each with published clinical evidence, each working through a distinct mechanism.

Before you get sick, use the Defense.
When you are — reach for the Offense.

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Get notified when we launch.

Presale opens September 15. Full launch October 1, 2026. Enter your email and we'll reach out the moment it's available.

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These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Products described are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider for personal medical guidance.