Blood Culture Use in the Emergency Department in Patients Hospitalized for Community-Acquired Pneumonia

sources, including prescriptions from physicians and purchases from a friend or a relative or from a drug dealer or a stranger, with greater frequency as the reported days of nonmedical use increased.Among nonmedical users reporting 200 to 365 days of use, opioid pain relievers were most often obtained via prescription from physicians (27.3%).Discussion | The overall distribution of sources for opioids used for nonmedical purposes largely reflects the behavior of the lowest-use, lowest-risk group (1-29 days), which accounts for 63.9% of the sample.However, the highest-use, highest-risk group (200-365 days) reports different sources.This group is more likely than those with the lowest frequency of use to obtain opioids from a physician's prescription or from a drug dealer.This pattern is similar to that of patients in opioid treatment programs, who cite dealers and physicians as frequent sources. 6hese results underscore the need for interventions targeting prescribing behaviors, in addition to those targeting medication sharing, selling, and diversion.The essential steps health care providers can take to curb this serious health problem include more judicious prescribing, use of prescription drug-monitoring programs, and screening patients for abuse risk before prescribing opioids.