Syndromic Antibiograms and Nursing Home Clinicians' Antibiotic Choices for Urinary Tract Infections.

Importance: Empirical antibiotic prescribing in nursing homes (NHs) is often suboptimal. The potential for antibiograms to improve empirical antibiotic decision-making in NHs remains poorly understood.

Objective: To determine whether providing NH clinicians with a urinary antibiogram improves empirical antibiotic treatment of urinary tract infections (UTIs).

Ankle brachial indices and anaerobes: is peripheral arterial disease associated with anaerobic bacteria in diabetic foot ulcers?

Background: Lower extremity amputations from diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) are rebounding, and new biomarkers that predict wound healing are urgently needed. Anaerobic bacteria have been associated with persistent ulcers and may be a promising biomarker beyond currently recommended vascular assessments. It is unknown whether anaerobic markers are simply a downstream outcome of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and ischemia, however.

Association of Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Use With Opioid Prescribing and Health Outcomes: A Comparison of Program Users and Nonusers.

Unlabelled: Prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) are a response to the prescription opioid epidemic, but their effects on prescribing and health outcomes remain unclear, with conflicting reports. We sought to determine if prescriber use of Oregon's PDMP led to fewer high-risk opioid prescriptions or overdose events. We conducted a retrospective cohort study from October 2011 through October 2014, using statewide PDMP data, hospitalization registry, and vital records.

Clinicians' Use of Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs in Clinical Practice and Decision-Making.

Objectives: Little is known about clinicians' use of prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) profiles in decision-making. The objective of this qualitative study was to understand how clinicians use, interpret, and integrate PDMP profiles with other information in making clinical decisions.

Design: Qualitative interviews of clinician PDMP users.

Association Between Initial Opioid Prescribing Patterns and Subsequent Long-Term Use Among Opioid-Naïve Patients: A Statewide Retrospective Cohort Study.

Background: Long-term efficacy of opioids for non-cancer pain is unproven, but risks argue for cautious prescribing. Few data suggest how long or how much opioid can be prescribed for opioid-naïve patients without inadvertently promoting long-term use.

Objective: To examine the association between initial opioid prescribing patterns and likelihood of long-term use among opioid-naïve patients.

Clinical Styles and Practice Policies: Influence on Communication with Patients Regarding Worrisome Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Data.

Objectives: Clinician communication with patients regarding worrisome findings in Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs) may influence patient responses and subsequent care. The authors studied the range of approaches clinicians report when communicating with patients in this situation and how practice policies and procedures may influence this communication.

Design: Qualitative interviews of clinician PDMP users.

Photothermally Induced Optical Property Changes of Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) Microgel-Based Etalons.

Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) microgel-based optical devices were designed such that they can be stimulated to change their optical properties in response to light produced by a light-emitting diode (LED). The devices were fabricated by sandwiching the synthesized microgels between two Cr/Au layers all supported on a glass coverslip with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) deposited. Here, we found that these devices can be stimulated to change their optical properties when exposed to green LED light, which excites the AuNPs and increases the local temperature, causing the thermoresponsive microgels to decrease in diameter, resulting in a change in the devices' optical properties.

Leading a Horse to Water: Facilitating Registration and Use of a Prescription Drug Monitoring Program.

Objectives: Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs) can help inform patient management, coordinate care, and identify drug safety risks, abuse, or diversion. However, many clinicians are not registered to use these systems, and use may be suboptimal. We sought to describe outreach efforts in 1 state (Oregon); quantify uptake of system use; identify barriers; and identify potential system improvements.

How clinicians use prescription drug monitoring programs: a qualitative inquiry.

Objectives: Prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) are now active in most states to assist clinicians in identifying potential controlled drug misuse, diversion, or excessive prescribing. Little is still known about the ways in which they are incorporated into workflow and clinical decision making, what barriers continue to exist, and how clinicians are sharing PDMP results with their patients.

Design: Qualitative data were collected through online focus groups and telephone interviews.

Who uses a prescription drug monitoring program and how? Insights from a statewide survey of Oregon clinicians.

Unlabelled: Prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) are relatively new but potentially useful tools to enhance prudent prescribing of controlled substances. However, little is known about the types of clinicians who make the most use of PDMPs, how these programs are incorporated into clinicians' work flow, or how clinicians and patients respond to the information. We therefore surveyed a random sample of Oregon providers, with 1,065 respondents.

Measures such as interstate cooperation would improve the efficacy of programs to track controlled drug prescriptions.

In response to increasing abuse of prescription drugs, forty-four states have implemented--and five more states will soon adopt--monitoring programs to track prescriptions of controlled medications. Although these programs were originally designed to help law enforcement officials and regulatory agencies spot possible illegal activity, health care providers have begun to use data from them to help improve patient safety and quality of care. For this article we reviewed government documents, expert white papers, articles from the peer-reviewed medical literature, and reports of the experiences of local health officials.

Fibromyalgia is associated with impaired balance and falls.

Background/objective: The purpose of this study was to determine whether fibromyalgia (FM) patients differ from matched healthy controls in clinical tests of balance ability and fall frequency.

Methods: Thirty-four FM patients and 32 age-matched controls were administered the Balance Evaluation-Systems Test (BESTest), rated their balance confidence with the Activities-Specific Balance Confidence (ABC) Scale, and reported the number of falls in the last 6 months. The Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire was used to assess FM severity.