Study Indicates 89,000 ED Visits Annually Tied To Adverse Psychiatric Medication Events

Modern Healthcare (9/4, Rice, Subscription Publication) reports that, according to a study published in the September issue of JAMA Psychiatry, “an estimated 267,000 patients visited an emergency department between 2009 and 2011 because of adverse drug events such as overdose, excessive sleepiness and head injuries associated with use of psychiatric prescriptions.”

Specifically, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Johns Hopkins University found that some “89,094 adult patients visited an emergency department annually because of adverse drug events from taking sedatives, antidepressants and antipsychotics.” In September 2013, through the Choosing Wisely campaign, the American Psychiatric Association issued “a list of recommendations for safe-prescribing of antipsychotics.”