Leftover narcotic analgesics among emergency department patients and methods of disposal

OBJECTIVE: Given the increase in narcotic addiction and diversion, understanding how patients use their opioid prescriptions and store or dispose of any remainders is important. We set out to determine the frequency in which patients had leftover opioid quantities from prescriptions received in the emergency department (ED). In addition, we sought to describe patients’ reasons for taking or not taking all of their prescribed medications and their strategies to manage and/or dispose of any excess or leftovers. METHODS: This cross‐sectional study took place at an academic center in an urban environment in mid‐Missouri with an annual emergency department volume of 55,000 patients. Potential participants were identified using a patient discharge prescription log and consisted of adult patients who received opioid prescriptions. A single researcher recruited participants via phone and invited them to participate in the study by completing a short phone survey. RESULTS: The discharge log included 301 patient encounters; of those, 170 potential participants were successfully contacted by phone and 89 agreed to participate in the survey. A majority of the participants indicated that they did not take the full prescription amount. Only 4.1% of participants disposed of their leftover opioids according to U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommendations. Those who did not dispose of their leftover opioids most frequently stored their remaining medication in a medicine cabinet or box, and a majority (77%) indicated that this storage location was unlocked. CONCLUSIONS: A majority of patients discharged from the emergency department have leftover opioids, and almost all of these leftover medications were not disposed of or stored in compliance with US Food and Drug Administration recommendations. Future research to determine what interventions could increase proper storage and disposal of leftover opioids is recommended.