Evaluation and pharmacists perspective of repeat prescribing process in refill clinics

Repeat prescription refers to a re-prescribed medications list issued by a refill clinic, commonly for stable chronic illnesses. The issues regarding repeat prescriptions have garnered increasing important in recent years, as no general agreement about a standardized protocol exists between organizations. Due to the importance of pharmacists' involvement and intervention in the process of repeat prescription and the lack of local studies discussing this topic, the aim of this study was to assess pharmacists' perspectives toward the repeat prescription process and identify the issues related to repeat prescriptions in refill clinics at tertiary hospitals.

A self-developed questionnaire was used to assess outpatient pharmacists' perspectives toward the repeat prescription process. This was followed by a comprehensive review of the electronic health records (EHR) of patients who requested repeat prescriptions to identify related issues. The study was conducted at a tertiary teaching hospital from September 2019 to January 2020.

Based on the questionnaire, 34 pharmacists reported receiving less than 10 repeat prescriptions per week (82.35%); nevertheless, around 88.24% of pharmacists have faced issues with the repeat prescription process, and only 15.65% of the issues got resolved. Most of the pharmacists (88.24%) showed a proactive attitude toward modifying the work process to reduce issues. Further, the review of the patients' EHR identified 1766 prescriptions with related issues in 617 (14.02%) patients' profiles. Most of these issues were seen in the elderly (46.7%). The most common issue encountered was "Patients came too early to request," which accounted for 986 (55.8%) of the total issues, followed by the issue of "Refilling a restricted medication" reported at 247 (14%). Only 11% of these issues were completely resolved by pharmacists.

The repeat prescription service might be associated with issues that lead to preventable adverse effects, especially among the elderly who are prone to such effects. Comprehensive reviews of patients' profiles are necessary to assess their needs and avoid such issues.