Observational studyThe Journal of emergency medicine2026
Evaluation of an Emergency Department Over-the-Counter Analgesic Medication Starter Pack Initiative on 30-day Revisits.
Observational study in The Journal of emergency medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAn Over-The-Counter (OTC) Starter Pack Initiative was implemented in the emergency department (ED) of a safety-net institution. Select OTC analgesic medications were dispensed free to patients experiencing financial/healthcare access barriers. STUDY
objectiveWe compared 30-day all-cause ED revisit rates in program participants before and after program participation.
methodsAn institutional review board (IRB) approved retrospective observational study of ED visits made by program participants from 01/01 to 10/21/2021 was conducted. Demographics, number of ED visits, ICD-10 codes, and pain scores were collected. A modified patient fixed-effects Poisson regression estimated the relative risk of 30-day all-cause ED revisit after receiving assistance ("OTC-assisted") compared with the preprogram "usual care" risk.
resultsThere were 149 unique participants with both "usual care" and"OTC-program assisted" visits. Among these participants, the 30-day revisit rate was lower after program assistance (34%) compared to their revisit rate following a usual care visit (52%). OTC-Starter Pack program assistance was associated with a 20% reduction in the relative risk of revisiting the ED within 30 days (RR: 0.80, 95% CI: 0.71, 0.910) (p = 0.000). A cost saving analysis suggests that the program was associated with a per-patient saving of $53.21, on average, in avoided ED costs, net of the cost of the starter pack.
conclusionsThe OTC-Starter Pack Program was associated with reduced 30-day revisit rates among patients with financial or healthcare access barriers and suggested cost savings within our study population.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.