ABSTRACT
Background: Ecopharmacology which deals with the health hazards posed by discarded or used medicinal products in the environment, is a globally emerging issue. There are guidelines for pharmaceutical waste management (Like GMP and FDA guidelines) for the manufacturing units, pharmacists and consumers. However, it is uncertain whether consumers are aware of it. Before beginning the process of creating awareness, it is first necessary to assess the existing knowledge of the issue in the community. This study was planned to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of ecopharmacology in the medical personnel and students in our institute.Methods: It was a questionnaire based cross-sectional observational study. Study population included MBBS students, nursing students and resident doctors. Total 500 consenting participants were enrolled and subjected to a structured KAP questionnaire and data was expressed in percentage. Questionnaire consisted of 20 questions out of which 3 were open ended and remaining closed ended.Results: Present study result showed that 73% respondents had heard of term ecopharmacology and majority (98%) felt that it was their responsibility to protect environment from pharmaceutical waste. Responses from 83% of participants indicated that they were worried about the excess medicines at their homes. 87% of participants threw it in garbage bin, but (58%) were unsure whether their drug disposing method was safe and 25 % knew it was unsafe. Most respondents (94%) felt that there should be guidelines for safe disposal of expired/unused drug and were enthusiastic about participating in campaign for this issue. Medical personnel also suggested some solutions to deal with this problem.Conclusions: Awareness and concern regarding the problem is high however in absence of knowledge of methods of safe disposal of unused drug, it is not transforming into safe disposal practices.
ABSTRACT
Background: In view of the high prevalence rates and the fact that medication is the primary line of treatment in POAG, an understanding of prescribing patterns can provide an insight into rational use of antiglaucoma drugs.Methods: This prospective, cross-sectional study was conducted in the glaucoma clinic of a tertiary care teaching hospital over a period of 12 months. Data from prescriptions of patients with POAG was recorded to study the prescribing pattern of antiglaucoma medications, completeness of the prescription and analysis of the prescriber’s influence.Results: Total of 103 prescriptions were included in which all the 141 anti-glaucoma drugs were prescribed as eye drops. Average number of drugs prescribed in present study was 1.36. ? blockers, particularly Timolol (58%) was the most frequently prescribed drug. Timolol with dorzolamide (15%) was the only prescribed fixed dose combination. Prostaglandin analogues (5%) were least commonly prescribed. 53% drugs were prescribed by generic names and 43% were prescribed from hospital formulary. Instructions regarding the route and frequency of drug administration with duration of treatment were present in all prescriptions; however, instructions regarding method of instillation of eye drops were missing. Authors observed prescriber’s influence in present study.Conclusions: Overall prescribing pattern in our set up is satisfactory. There is a need to sensitize the prescribers regarding the importance of writing method of instillation in prescription as this could improve efficacy reduce side effects, prevent drug wastage and reduce cost. To encourage the physicians for rational prescribing such type of studies should be done more often for periodic auditing of prescriptions.