These survey data indicate that awareness of NPS and, importantly, perception of the potential health risks associated with NPS use is lacking. NPS awareness and use is higher in those in employment but is unaffected by level of education. This highlights the need for targeted drugs education intervention by policy-makers in schools and universities.
Aims
The risk of potential harms prompted the UK government to introduce the Psychoactive Substances Act in 2016. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of this new legislation on patterns of novel psychoactive substance (NPS) awareness, use, experiences and risk awareness in a self‐selected sample of UK consumers to inform education and policy.
Methods
The Bristol Online Survey was advertised on the Bluelight drug forum and social media Facebook pages and University email between 7 January and 7 February 2015 (168 responses) and 9 March to 18 September 2017 (726 responses). UK country of residence responses were extracted for analysis (SPSS).
Results
In a predominantly university‐educated, young (< 25 years) self‐selecting sample, 1 year after introduction of the legislation, NPS use (in males, under 18s, those educated to school/college level, P < .001) has increased, whilst health risk awareness has not changed and remains poor. Users are switching to sourcing NPSs via street dealers (49%) and the darknet (31%) and showing an increase in preference for the herbal NPS Salvia divinorum (P < .05). The main reasons for NPS use remain the influence of friends (69%) in a social setting and to get high (76%) usually in combination with alcohol, cannabis or ecstasy.
Conclusion
Regulation alone, so far, has not impacted on health risk awareness, NPS drug demand and culture in our UK survey sample. Alongside regulation, NPS health promotion education (particularly in schools, colleges) is needed that addresses resilience and both the risks and beneficial effects of NPS.
RATIONALE: The electronic medical record (EMR) is an important tool for communication among providers. Use of the EMR for recording peanut allergy (PA) has not been investigated. METHODS: The EMR of a tertiary care medical center was reviewed for patients with at least one well child primary care visit between January 1 and December 31, 2016. Comparisons were made between children who had PA on their problem list (PL), updated by physicians, vs allergy list (AL) alone, updated by multiple individuals. RESULTS: Of 884 charts reviewed, 453 charts had PA on PL and 872 had PA on AL. There were no differences in age or gender between children who did and did not have PA on PL. However, children with PA on their PL were more likely to have an allergy referral, evaluation by an allergist, additional food allergies, epinephrine prescriptions, and repeat peanut IgE levels (p<0.001 for each). Children with PA on PL were more likely to have peanut allergy confirmed by an allergist than children with PA on AL alone (OR 1.8, p5.01). Among children with PA on AL alone, 17% were considered tolerant to peanut, compared to 5% with PA recorded on PL (p<0.001). However, PL could not be relied upon to capture PA consistently, as 67% considered definitely PA by the allergist did not have PA on their PL. CONCLUSIONS: There is inconsistency with how PA is communicated in the EMR, which was associated with significant differences in how PA is confirmed and managed. 825 Barriers preventing Canadian parents of children with food allergy from participating in Oral Food Challenges and possible solutions
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