• Christopher J Edwards, Vivienne Ng, Nicholas B Hurst, Juan Contreras, and Farshad Mazda Shirazi.
• The University of Arizona College of Pharmacy, Tucson, Arizona.
• J Emerg Med. 2022 Jun 1; 62 (6): 783-788.

BackgroundApproximately two-thirds of patients discharged from an emergency department (ED) are prescribed at least one medication. Prescription clarification by outpatient pharmacies for ED patients can lead to delays for patients and added workload.ObjectivesThis study aims to describe prescriptions requiring clarification prior to being dispensed by an outpatient pharmacy for patients recently discharged from an ED.MethodsThis study was conducted at an urban, 61-bed academic ED. Prescription clarification forms were used to identify common causes for outpatient pharmacies to contact the ED to clarify prescriptions prior to dispensation. Clarification types were reviewed and classified. Descriptive statistics were used to present the classification types.ResultsThere were 1278 documented calls to the ED for prescription clarification that were classified as clarification of directions for use (611, 47.7%), insurance or affordability issues (182, 14.2%), dose (172, 13.4%), medication availability (126, 9.8%), lost or missing prescription (93, 7.3%), patient allergy or adverse event (62, 4.8%), duplication in therapy (17, 1.3%), and clarification of medication ordered (17, 1.3%). When grouped into provider, system, or patient-related issues, provider issues were noted to be most frequent clarifications (862 clarifications, 67.3%), followed by system issues (325 clarifications, 25.4%), and finally, patient-related issues (93 clarifications, 7.3%).ConclusionsClarification of directions for use, insurance or affordability issues, and clarification of the dose were the most common reasons that outpatient pharmacies contacted an ED regarding a prescription for a recently discharged patient.Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Inc.

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