OBJECTIVE To evaluate antimicrobial utilization and prescription practices in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) after implementation of an antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP). DESIGN Quasi-experimental, interrupted time-series study. SETTING A 54-bed, level IV NICU in a regional academic and tertiary referral center. PATIENTS AND PARTICIPANTS All neonates prescribed antimicrobials from ...

BACKGROUND Beta-blockers (BB) are recommended in secondary prevention of acute myocardial infarction (AMI), but adherence to prescription medication is a recognized problem. Most literature on the consequences of poor adherence to prescribed BB is limited by the possibility of "healthy adherer bias" and better-designed studies have been advocated. METHODS AND RESULTS We investigated the assoc...

INTRODUCTION Long-term benzodiazepine (BZD) treatment in patients with mental disorders is widespread in clinical practice, and this is also the case of patients with schizophrenia, although the evidence is weak and BZD prescription is discouraged by guidelines and medical authorities. Data on BZD prescription are usually derived from national or regional databases whereas information on the us...

North America is currently facing an opioid epidemic. Opioid overdose deaths have increased 200% since 2000, and in 2014, 28,647 drug-poisoning deaths were attributed to some type of opioid. Multiple sources of opioids contribute to this growing problem and include prescription opioids (including natural and semisynthetic opioids, eg, oxycodone, hydrocodone), methadone, and other synthetic opio...

BACKGROUND Many Russians experienced difficulty in accessing prescription medication during the widespread health service disruption and rapid socio-economic transition of the 1990s. This paper examines trends and determinants of access in Russia during this period. METHODS Data were from nine rounds (1994-2004) of the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey, a 38-centre household panel survey. ...

BACKGROUND Large multicentre studies of continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) in critically ill patients may influence its bedside prescription and practical application. Despite this, many aspects of CRRT may not be informed by evidence but remain a product of clinician preference. Little was known about current CRRT practice in Australia and New Zealand and it is not known if the eviden...

During fiscal years 2000 and 2001, the Veterans Health Administration provided veterans with more than 131,000 wheelchairs and scooters at a cost of $109 million. This national study is the first to investigate Veterans Health Administration costs in providing wheelchairs and scooters and to compare regional prescription patterns. With a retrospective design, we used descriptive methods to anal...

Mycoplasma pneumoniae outbreaks cause increased use of macrolides and tetracyclines. We aimed to investigate whether drug use data, in addition to laboratory data, could improve understanding of the spread of M. pneumoniae epidemics. Number of users of Mycoplasma antibiotics (erythromycin, doxycycline, clarithromycin) per week and county of residence in an indicator age group (6-12 years) was r...

BACKGROUND Overprescribing of opioid pain relievers (OPR) can result in multiple adverse health outcomes, including fatal overdoses. Interstate variation in rates of prescribing OPR and other prescription drugs prone to abuse, such as benzodiazepines, might indicate areas where prescribing patterns need further evaluation. METHODS CDC analyzed a commercial database (IMS Health) to assess the ...