Electronically transmitted prescriptions not picked up at pharmacies in Sweden

• Background: Electronic transmitted prescriptions (ETPs) became common after 1995 in Sweden; however, it is accompanied by a substantial increase in the number of prescriptions not picked up at pharmacies.Objective: To investigate the ‘‘no pick-up’’ rates of ETPs at pharmacies across type of drug and patient age and gender and the reasons patients’ report for no pick-up.Methods: A cross-sectional study examining no pick-up of ETPs transmitted during 3 months in 2002, and a mail survey of patients to determine the reasons for failure to pick-up in the county of Sormland, Sweden, with a population of 261,000, and 21 pharmacies. Chi-square tests were used for calculations of frequency differences among groups.Results: The overall no pick-up rate of ETPs was 2.5%; men had consistently higher rates than women. The highest rates were seen for adolescents and young adults. Rates were higher than average for antibiotics. About 60% of the answers indicated that prescriptions not picked up were duplicate prescriptions or not needed. ‘‘Unintentional nonadherence’’ was reported by one-fifth of patients.Conclusions: No pick-up rate in general was low (2.5%), but there were differences across patient age and sex, the rates being higher among adolescents and young adults. Duplicate prescriptions may explain a significant share of the abandoned prescriptions.

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Medicinska och farmaceutiska grundvetenskaper -- Samhällsfarmaci och klinisk farmaci (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Basic Medicine -- Social and Clinical Pharmacy (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Electronic prescriptions

Primary nonadherence

Sweden

Community pharmacy

Community pharmacy services

Samhällsfarmaci

Pharmacology

Farmakologi

Natural Science

Naturvetenskap

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)