Aims Determine the incidence of and risk factors for necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) and transfusion-associated NEC (TANEC) in very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) infants pre/post implementation of a peri-transfusion feeding protocol. Study Design A retrospective cohort study was conducted including all inborn VLBW infants admitted to the Duke intensive care nursery from 2002–10. We defined NEC using Bell’s modified criteria IIA and higher and TANEC as NEC occurring within 48 hours of a packed red blood cell (pRBC) transfusion. We compared demographic and laboratory data for TANEC vs. other NEC infants and the incidence of TANEC pre/post implementation of our peri-transfusion feeding protocol. We also assessed the relationship between pre-transfusion hematocrit and pRBC unit age with TANEC. Results A total of 148/1380 (10.7%) infants developed NEC. Incidence of NEC decreased after initiating our peri-transfusion feeding protocol: 126/939 (12%) to 22/293 (7%), P=0.01. The proportion of TANEC did not change: 51/126 (41%) vs. 9/22 (41%), P>0.99. TANEC infants were smaller, more likely to develop surgical NEC, and had lower mean pre-transfusion hematocrits prior to their TANEC transfusions compared with all other transfusions before their NEC episode: 28% vs. 33%, P<0.001. Risk of TANEC was inversely related to pre-transfusion hematocrit: odds ratio 0.87 (0.79–0.95). Conclusions Pre-transfusion hematocrit is inversely related to risk of TANEC, which suggests that temporally maintaining a higher baseline hemoglobin in infants most at risk of NEC may be protective. The lack of difference in TANEC pre-/post-implementation of our peri-transfusion feeding protocol, despite an overall temporal decrease in NEC, suggests other unmeasured interventions may account for the observed decreased incidence of NEC.

Genetic testing for inherited susceptibility to breast and ovarian cancer can be compared to similar testing for colorectal cancer as a “natural experiment.” Inherited susceptibility accounts for a similar fraction of both cancers and genetic testing results guide decisions about options for prophylactic surgery in both sets of conditions. One major difference is that in the United States, Myriad Genetics is the sole provider of genetic testing, because it has sole control of relevant patents for BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes whereas genetic testing for familial colorectal cancer is available from multiple laboratories. Colorectal cancer-associated genes are also patented, but they have been nonexclusively licensed. Prices for BRCA1 and 2 testing do not reflect an obvious price premium attributable to exclusive patent rights compared to colorectal cancer testing, and indeed Myriad’s per unit costs are somewhat lower for BRCA1/2 testing than testing for colorectal cancer susceptibility. Myriad has not enforced patents against basic research, and negotiated a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Cancer Institute in 1999 for institutional BRCA testing in clinical research. The main impact of patenting and licensing in BRCA compared to colorectal cancer is the business model of genetic testing, with a sole provider for BRCA and multiple laboratories for colorectal cancer genetic testing. Myriad’s sole provider model has not worked in jurisdictions outside the United States, largely because of differences in breadth of patent protection, responses of government health services, and difficulty in patent enforcement.

BackgroundIt is well known that the information requirements necessary to safely treat children with therapeutic medications cannot be met with the same approaches used in adults. Over a 1-year period, Duke University Hospital engaged in the challenging task of enhancing an established computerized provider order entry (CPOE) system to address the unique medication dosing needs of pediatric patients.MethodsAn advanced dosing model (ADM) was designed to interact with our existing CPOE application to provide decision support enabling complex pediatric dose calculations based on chronological age, gestational age, weight, care area in the hospital, indication, and level of renal impairment. Given that weight is a critical component of medication dosing that may change over time, alerting logic was added to guard against erroneous entry or outdated weight information.ResultsPediatric CPOE was deployed in a staggered fashion across 6 care areas over a 14-month period. Safeguards to prevent miskeyed values became important in allowing providers the flexibility to override the ADM logic if desired. Methods to guard against over- and under-dosing were added. The modular nature of our model allows us to easily add new dosing scenarios for specialized populations as the pediatric population and formulary change over time.ConclusionsThe medical needs of pediatric patients vary greatly from those of adults, and the information systems that support those needs require tailored approaches to design and implementation. When a single CPOE system is used for both adults and pediatrics, safeguards such as redirection and suppression must be used to protect children from inappropriate adult medication dosing content. Unlike other pediatric dosing systems, our model provides active dosing assistance and dosing process management, not just static dosing advice.

NICU infants are subjected to many handoff errors. Sicker infants are at higher risk for error. Auto-population can reduce written handoff errors and allow residents more time for training and educational opportunities.