Objectives Elizabethkingia meningoseptica is a multi-drug-resistant organism that is associated with high mortality and morbidity in newborn and immunocompromised patients. This study aimed to identify the best antimicrobial therapy for treating this infection. Methods A retrospective descriptive study was conducted from 2010 to 2017 in a tertiary paediatric hospital in Singapore. Paediatric patients aged 0 to 18 years old with a positive culture for E. meningoseptica from any sterile site were identified from the hospital laboratory database. The data collected included clinical characteristics, antimicrobial susceptibility and treatment, and clinical outcomes. Results Thirteen cases were identified in this study. Combination therapy with piperacillin/tazobactam and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole or a fluoroquinolone resulted in a cure rate of 81.8  %. The mortality rate was 15.4  % and neurological morbidity in patients with bacteraemia and meningitis remained high (75 %). Conclusions Treatment with combination therapy of piperacillin/tazobactam and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole or a fluroquinolone was effective in this study, with low mortality rates being observed.

The healthcare industry faces significant challenges such as spiraling costs, shortage of qualified personnel, a rapidly aging population, and increase in chronic diseases as well as epidemics. Healthcare information technology (IT) has been suggested as a mitigator for some of these challenges. Particularly, IT can enable the automation, integration, and management of clinical and administrative functions in healthcare. This has the potential to lower costs, relieve the workload of healthcare professionals, and obtain improvements in healthcare quality as advances in IT take place. In this regard, studying the stages of healthcare IT progression is essential to understand the past trends, address the current challenges, and make use of IT to enhance the provision of healthcare in future. However, although there is considerable literature on the stages of IT evolution, studies specific to healthcare IT are sparse. With the unique challenges of the healthcare sector, we aim to address such a gap in our study. Drawing on the Nolan stage model, we propose a model to explain the stages of IT evolution in the healthcare sector, incorporating initiation, contagion, control, and integration stages. The model was developed with a focus on healthcare IT in Singapore, due to Singapore's advanced IT and medical infrastructure and relatively lower spending on healthcare compared to other developed countries. In this manner, this study contributes to the understanding of the role of IT in healthcare from a dynamic and evolutionary view.