Objective:

To analyze the new prescriptions at discharge from the Emergency Department: utilization profile, degree of adaptation to the Pharmacotherapeutic Guide, quality of the prescription and cost estimation.

Method:

Cross-sectional descriptive study. The variables included the number of prescribed medications, if it was done according to the Spanish Official Denomination, financing by the National Health System, adaptation to the Pharmacotherapeutic Guide and the existence of a cheaper alternative. The completion of basic data and cost of prescriptions was also checked.

Results:

A total of 1,252 episodes received 2,152 prescriptions with a mean of 2.1 per episode. Out of them 78% were adapted to the hospital pharmacotherapeutic guide and 88.9% financed drugs. Most common drugs were: acetaminophen, metamizole, ibuprofen, desketoprofen and omeprazole. The deficit filling of the prescription compromised the dispensation in 231 prescriptions (10.7%). In 20 drugs, 57.5% of spending and 73.0% of saving were concentrated. Extrapolating the results to the prescriptions of one year, it is obtained that the expense would be €1,161,008.8, expecting for a reduction in €370,846.2 after adaptation to the guide or € 571,323.3 by adding the medication delivery strategy.

Conclusions:

New prescriptions at discharge are concentrated in a low number of medications. Acting on them allows a wide margin of economic improvement and increases security. Avoiding the prescription of non-financed medicines and guaranteeing the delivery of the medication upon discharge from the Emergency Department are another of the points of improvement identified.

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