Urgent care clinics are pushing pain pills that do little to treat conditions, new study finds
Urgent care clinics are inappropriately prescribing pills, research shows
- Urgent care clinics in the US are reportedly overprescribing antibiotics, glucocorticoids, and opioids for conditions they are not meant to treat, potentially causing harm.
- A study analyzing over 22 million urgent care visits between 2018 and 2022 found millions of prescriptions for these drugs, with a substantial number deemed inappropriate for the patients' diagnoses.
- Specific instances of inappropriate prescribing included 46 percent of patients with urinary symptoms receiving unnecessary antibiotics and 41 percent of bronchitis patients getting inappropriate glucocorticoids.
- Researchers suggest that factors contributing to this issue include clinicians' knowledge gaps, patient demand, and a lack of comprehensive information systems to support prescribing decisions.
- Proposed solutions to mitigate inappropriate prescribing involve implementing drug stewardship programs, utilizing electronic health records more effectively, and providing further medication education for healthcare providers.