PHP31 Knowledge and Practice of Disposal of Date Expired and Unused Drugs

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Knowledge and practice of disposal of date expired and unused drugs among college students and people having a health science background and to find the most widely used method of drug disposal for the expired drugs in the study group. METHODS: A pilot study questionnaire was prepared and a survey was done among students with Health Science background to understand the appropriateness of content. Further 500 University students and people having a health science background were interviewed personally using the validated questionnaire prepared. Results were presented percentage responses and interpretation of the results helped in the derivation of the final conclusion. RESULTS: When asked about the awareness of the existing guidelines for the safe disposal of drugs in various countries 56% of the respondents knew about it while 44% were unaware. A total of 52.2% of the respondents agreed that the wrong drug disposal methods can lead to adverse environmental effects while 25.6% strongly agreed to it. A mere 4.8% disagreed to the statement while another 17.4% somewhat agreed to it; 56.8% strongly agreed to the fact that there was a need of a drug take back system in their place of residence. A total of 57.2% opined that there was a need of public awareness programs to increase the awareness about drug disposal in the general public. A majority 91.2% of the respondents admitted that they simply throw the expired drugs into the dustbins. 46.8% of the people said there was no work being done in this context by any organization. CONCLUSIONS: The study clearly indicates lack of awareness and good practices of date expired drugs among surveyed population. There is a need to create awareness regarding disposal of drugs among the population which should be done either by the government or any organization.

Knowledge, attitude and disposing practice of unused and expired medicines among the general public in Malaysia

“…This is consistent with other studies in which respondents with knowledge of proper methods of drug disposal tend to return unused drugs to the pharmacy. On the other hand, studies have shown that the majority of respondents who do not have knowledge of proper methods for disposing of drugs are more likely to throw unused drugs into the garbage bin and sink or gave them away to other users than to return them to pharmacies …”