Dentists Prescribing Fewer High-Alert Drugs to Children
Issue Number
850
February 14, 2023
AHRQ Stats
Access more on this topic in the associated research review, plus additional AHRQ data infographics.
Today's Headlines:
- Dentists Prescribing Fewer High-Alert Drugs to Children.
- AHRQ Briefs Address Emerging Topics for Integrating Behavioral Health in Primary Care.
- Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network.
- Explore Careers at AHRQ.
- New Research and Evidence From AHRQ.
- AHRQ in the Professional Literature.
Dentists Prescribing Fewer High-Alert Drugs to Children
Dental prescriptions to children for potentially dangerous drugs decreased from 2012 to 2019, according to an AHRQ-funded study published in Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety. The authors identified changes in fills for opioids, sedatives, benzodiazepines and stimulants to children under 18 years. They found that national quarterly dispensing of the Institute for Safe Medication Practice’s high-alert medications decreased about 63 percent. They attributed the change partly to new opioid prescribing recommendations for adults published in 2016. However, older teenagers and children in some poorer counties in southern states continued to receive dental opioids at higher than average rates. The authors concluded that, despite overall improvements, more work is needed to address non-evidence-based reasons that dentists prescribe high-alert medicines to children. Access abstract.
AHRQ Briefs Address Emerging Topics for Integrating Behavioral Health in Primary Care
AHRQ has released a series of topic briefs to inform primary care clinicians’ management of patients’ behavioral health conditions. Topics include information about COVID-19 and its impact on worsening health disparities, the use of telehealth, and guidance for providing care for stimulant use disorder and polysubstance use. These briefs provide information, strategies, tools and resources for addressing the needs of specialty populations, changing and evolving challenges, and emerging opportunities related to behavioral health integration. Access the topic briefs.
Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network
AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network (PSNet) highlights journal articles, books and tools related to patient safety. Articles featured this week include:
- The effectiveness of tele-triage during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review and narrative synthesis.
- Using potentially preventable severe maternal morbidity to monitor hospital performance.
- The incidence of opioid misuse among the surgical patients with persistent opioid use.
Review additional new publications in PSNet’s current issue or access recent cases and commentaries in AHRQ’s WebM&M (Morbidity and Mortality Rounds on the Web).
Explore Careers at AHRQ
Join the team that strives to improve healthcare for all Americans by investing in health systems research, creating strategies to support practice improvement and providing data and analytics to identify opportunities for improvement. Current vacancies include:
- Management Analyst, Office of Extramural Research, Education and Priority Populations. Application deadline: Feb. 23.
- Staff Service Fellow, Center for Evidence and Practice Improvement. Application deadline: Feb. 23.
- Director, Center for Evidence and Practice Improvement. Application deadline: March 13.
- Information Technology Specialist, Office of Management Services. Application deadline: Feb. 17.
- Administrative Support Assistant, Office of Management Services. Application deadline: Feb. 17.
New Research and Evidence From AHRQ
Comparative Effectiveness Review (draft open for comment): Impact of Healthcare Algorithms on Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health and Healthcare
AHRQ in the Professional Literature
Validation of the SDM Process scale to evaluate shared decision-making at clinical sites. Fowler FJ Jr, Sepucha KR, Stringfellow V, et al. J Patient Exp 2021 Nov 26;8:23743735211060811. Access the abstract on PubMed®.
COVID-19 related negative emotions and emotional suppression are associated with greater risk perceptions among emergency nurses: a cross-sectional study. Huff NR, Liu G, Chimowitz H, et al. Int J Nurs Stud Adv 2023 Dec;5:100111. Epub 2022 Nov 30. Access the abstract on PubMed®.
Linking patient safety climate with missed nursing care in labor and delivery units: findings from the LaborRNs Survey. Zhong J, Simpson KR, Spetz J, et al. J Patient Saf 2023 Jan 13. [Epub ahead of print.] Access the abstract on PubMed®.
Relationship between a risk score for QT interval prolongation and mortality across rural and urban inpatient facilities. Tan MS, Heise CW, Gallo T, et al. J Electrocardiol 2022 Dec 9. [Epub ahead of print.] Access the abstract on PubMed®.
The identification of clusters of risk factors and their association with hospitalizations or emergency department visits in home health care. Song J, Chae S, Bowles KH, et al. J Adv Nurs 2023 Feb;79(2):593-604. Epub 2022 Nov 22. Access the abstract on PubMed®.
A framework for a consistent and reproducible evaluation of manual review for patient matching algorithms. Gupta AK, Kasthurirathne SN, Xu H, et al. J Am Med Inform Assoc 2022 Nov 14;29(12):2105-9. Access the abstract on PubMed®.
Early palliative care consultation offsets hospitalization duration and costs for elderly patients with traumatic brain injuries: insights from a level 1 trauma center. Wu A, Zhou J, Quinlan N, et al. J Clin Neurosci 2023 Feb;108:1-5. Epub 2022 Dec 19. Access the abstract on PubMed®.
Pharmacologic and dietary treatments for epilepsies in children aged 1-36 months: a systematic review. Treadwell JR, Kessler SK, Wu M, et al. Neurology 2023 Jan 3;100(1):e16-e27. Epub 2022 Oct 21. Access the abstract on PubMed®.