Influences of Software Changes on Oxycodone Prescribing at an Australian Tertiary Emergency Department: A Retrospective Review.

Opioid prescribing and dispensing from emergency departments is a noteworthy issue given widespread opioid misuse and diversion in many countries, contributing both physical and economic harm to the population. High patient numbers and the stochastic nature of acute emergency presentations to emergency departments (EDs) introduce challenges for prescribers who are considering opioid stewardship principles. This study investigated the effect of changes to electronic prescribing software on prescriptions with an auto-populated quantity of oxycodone immediate release (IR) from an Australian tertiary emergency department following the implementation of national recommendations for reduced pack sizes.

MERCAT: Visualising molecular epidemiology data combining genetic markers and drug resistance profiles.

Molecular epidemiology uses genetic information from bacterial isolates to shed light on the population structure and dynamics of pathogens. Bacterial pathogens can now be studied by whole genome sequencing, but for some well-studied pathogens such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis a wealth of information is also available from other sources such as spoligotyping and multi-locus variable-number-tandem-repeats (VNTR). Isolates are also frequently tested for susceptibility to antibiotics.