Duplicate prescriptions in the emergency department: a retrospective cohort study

PURPOSE: To determine the nature and frequency of duplicate prescriptions (DPs) in the emergency department (ED) by utilization of a novel categorization of DPs which differentiates between appropriate DPs (ADPs) and potentially inappropriate DPs (PIDPs). METHODS: In this retrospective cohort study, adult patients who presented to the ED for internal medicine of a large university hospital in northern Germany in 2018 and 2019 were screened for the presence of DPs. Descriptive statistical methods were used to characterize the nature and frequency of PIDPs compared to the frequency of ADPs. RESULTS: A total of 4208 patients were enrolled into the study. The median age of the study population was 63 years (interquartile range (IQR) 48–77), 53.9% were female. The patients took a median of 5 drugs (IQR 3–9). 10.9% of the study population were affected by at least one PIDP (at least one grade-1 PIDP: 6.1%; at least one grade-2 PIDP: 4.5%; at least one grade-3 PIDP: 1.1%). Non-opioid analgesics accounted for the majority of grade-1 PIDPs, while inhalatives were most frequently responsible for grade-2 and grade-3 PIDPs. Nearly half of the study population (48.6%) displayed at least one ADP. CONCLUSION: PIDPs pose a frequent pharmacological challenge in the ED. The medication review should comprise a systematic screening for PIDPs with a particular focus on non-opioid analgesics and inhalatives. ADPs were detected more frequently than PIDPs, questioning the predominant notion in the medical literature that DPs are exclusively deleterious. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00228-022-03436-6.