Risk Stratification for Opioid Misuse in Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults: A Quality Improvement Project.

Background: The Pediatric Palliative and Comfort Care Team (PACT) at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) provides opioids to a large population of patients in the ambulatory setting. Before this project, PACT had no reliable system to risk stratify patients for opioid misuse.

Methods: The global aim was safe opioid prescribing by the palliative care team.

Redefining the Australian Anthrax Belt: Modeling the Ecological Niche and Predicting the Geographic Distribution of Bacillus anthracis.

The ecology and distribution of B. anthracis in Australia is not well understood, despite the continued occurrence of anthrax outbreaks in the eastern states of the country. Efforts to estimate the spatial extent of the risk of disease have been limited to a qualitative definition of an anthrax belt extending from southeast Queensland through the centre of New South Wales and into northern Victoria.

Is it all right to drink a little during pregnancy?

Question: When I told a female patient who just transferred from another city to abstain from alcohol during pregnancy, she was surprised. She mentioned that, in the past, several doctors had told her it was all right to drink moderately. I am confused.

Wound care of the pediatric burn patient.

Pediatric burn care requires an extensive knowledge of the pathophysiology of burns. Critical to a positive patient outcome is the correlation of burn size and depth with appropriate fluid administration, respiratory management, nutritional support, and wound care. Due to the nature of the injury where patients' recovery times are lengthy, consideration of the child's psychosocial needs must also be part of the total plan of care.