Effectiveness of an intervention to increase the knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding the return and disposal of unused medications

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an educational intervention (Safe D.U.M.P) to improve the knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding the return and disposal of unused medications. Community-dwelling adults in Malaysia who could understand English were recruited from two healthcare events. Participants were asked to fill out the validated Return and Disposal of Unused Medications (ReDiUM) questionnaire (pre-intervention), view six educational intervention posters on how to dispose of unused medications (Safe D.U.M.P), then answer the ReDiUM questionnaire immediately after viewing the posters (post-intervention). A total of 390 out of 456 participants participated (response rate=85.5%). Most were female (71%) with a median age of 42 years. The overall knowledge of participants significantly increased from 60% to 80% (p<0.001). However, no improvement was seen regarding their overall attitude and practice. This outcome was as expected as it may be more difficult to improve attitude and practice (when compared to knowledge) with a single educational session.

Assessment of general population knowledge, attitude, and practice on safe unused and expired drugs disposal: a cross-sectional study

“…This finding is consistent with the expectation that health care providers bear primary responsibility for managing medicines and hazardous waste. 41 …”

Assessment of knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding the disposal of expired and unused medications among the Lebanese population

“…Nevertheless, multivariable analyses have shown that all healthcare professionals, including pharmacists, physicians, dentists, and nurses, had significantly higher practice scores than non-healthcare professionals. This result is not surprising since healthcare workers are the key personnel responsible for medication and medical waste management [ 49 ].…”

“…Educational campaigns offered by different parties, including media, schools, pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals, can raise awareness about the environmental problems stemming from pharmaceutical residues and the proper measures and disposal standards to reduce medication waste. [ 12 , 49 , 50 ]…”

An Efficient Smart Pharmaceutical Packaging Technology Framework to Assess the Quality of Returned Medication through Non-Intrusively Recording Storage Conditions after Dispensation

“…Through abuse, self-medication without a prescription, or acquisition from an illegitimate source, the misuse of prescription drugs can lead to addiction, long-term health complications, and death [20][21][22][23]. While there are many papers on waste reducing behaviours [24][25][26][27], there are relatively few surrounding the reuse of discarded medicines.…”

“…CE ideals are also being applied within the PSC, with research and campaigns extending into the topics of: maximising patient adherence through altering prescription quantity and frequency [24,25]; education of the public into medicine waste [26,45]; the extension of use-by dates on EpiPens during a shortage [46]; the efficacy of waste reduction measures in pharmacies [27,47]; the sharing of cancer medications in clinics for maximum stock use [48]; the recycling of the outer packaging/cartridges for inhalers [49]; medicine return programs to ensure appropriate disposal of medicines [50,51]; the recovery of APIs for remanufacturing [52,53]; and the burning of medicines through pyrolysis to recover any energy from wasted medicines [54].…”