Impact of Policy Interventions on Oxycodone Prescribing in Queensland, Australia: An Uncontrolled Interrupted Time Series Study.

Introduction: Opioid prescribing rates are continuing to increase in Australia in line with prescribing rates seen internationally. Prescribing limits are one policy strategy to reduce short-term opioid prescribing, but there is limited evidence of their impact.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the impact of state and national policy interventions on changes to oxycodone 5 mg discharge prescriptions in public hospitals using electronic prescribing in Queensland, Australia by evaluating the proportion of oxycodone 5 mg discharge prescriptions written for ≤ 10 tablets across the study period.

Antipsychotic prescribing in people admitted to hospital with dementia or delirium.

Objective: To evaluate antipsychotic prescribing in people with dementia or delirium admitted to a large regional Queensland hospital.

Methods: A retrospective observational study analysing medical records of patients prescribed antipsychotics over 6 months.

Results: We audited a sample of 141 patients, 65 years or over (over 45 years for indigenous peoples) with dementia or delirium, without severe mental illness, prescribed antipsychotics.