Dispensing medication refills without counselling: An evaluation on efficiency, safety and patient acceptance

The purpose of this paper is to assess the safety and efficiency of, and acceptance by, patients for an express refill service (ERS).

A pilot uncontrolled, cross-sectional, single-centred study was conducted at the outpatient pharmacy of a tertiary acute care hospital. Under ERS, prescriptions were dispensed without clinical review and counselling for patients refilling prescription medications. Efficiency was assessed by comparing processing times of ERS prescriptions with regular prescriptions. Safety was assessed by independent review of prescriptions by two pharmacists. Patient acceptance was assessed by a survey.

ERS reduced processing time of prescriptions by more than 30 per cent compared to the regular fill process. ERS was generally safe for patients, with drug-related problems identified in only one prescription which may have warranted closer monitoring. It was accepted by patients who opted for the service, as 91.4 per cent agreed or strongly agreed that they were satisfied with the service.

The study was conducted on a small convenience sample of patients in a single centre, with no control group.

Results showed that ERS was efficient, safe and well-accepted for select patients refilling their prescriptions. This leads to shorter waiting times and greater patient satisfaction.

This is the first published study that has explored the feasibility of an express prescription refill service. Despite some limitations, this study showed that omitting prospective clinical review and patient counselling for a defined population segment is safe, and can reduce processing time and improve patient satisfaction.