ABSTRACT
Background: Awareness towards improper disposal of medicines and its hazardous impact on environment is one of the major issues which we are neglecting but needs to be focused. In general, expired medicines/waste medicines/ left out medicines are disposed in the garbage or, rinse in sink or flushed down toilet, which ends up in the water system and have a potential effect on ecosystem. With this background, the present study was conducted to assess the practice towards disposal of medicines (Unused/Expired Drugs) among the patients visiting tertiary care teaching hospital in Haryana.Methods: This study was a descriptive, cross-sectional study conducted through face-to-face interviews by using a validated structured Questionnaire in patients attending the OPD of PGIMS, Rohtak, Haryana. A total of 150 patients participated in this study.Results: Among the 150 Patients participated in the study, 94 were male and 56 were female. Most common class of medicines used were NSAIDS (34%). About the practice of disposal of medicines 62% of them threw into the dustbin (household garbage) 18% into the toilet/sink. About consequences of improper disposal (55%) of them answered that they were not aware. The most common reason for left out medicines in home was incompletion of the course due to getting relieved from disease (50%). Most common way of procuring medicine was purchased on prescription and surprisingly only 30% participants checked the expiry date of medicine before procuring. Among the participants 75% said that government should be responsible to create awareness for proper disposal of unused medicines.Conclusions: The present study brought out the current status and lacuna towards the disposal of medicines. Patients do not use all the medications and there is lack of knowledge about awareness of disposal of medicines and its consequences.
ABSTRACT
Background: Increasing disease incidence and prevalence necessitate healthcare practitioners to prescribe diverse medications. Families and patients are in possession of unused or expired medications and its risks have started gaining notice across the world. Majority of them including medical students are unaware about the disposal of unused or expired medicines. Misuse and improper disposal of unused/expired medications is a major safety and environmental concern, and thus proper disposal of those medications is highly important.Methods: Questionnaire based study was conducted among medical undergraduates of third year MBBS in two tertiary care teaching hospitals of Uttar Pradesh after approval from Institutional Ethical Committees during July-August 2018.Results: There were 65% of respondent had unused drugs in their home while 30% had the expired drugs. The most common reason for the unused and expiry drugs in the home was self-discontinuation. Analgesics were the main group of drugs possessed by participants. 67% in this study responded that drug disposal method was disposing the expired drugs to garbage. Only 26% know about the area in the city where unused/expired drugs are collected. 46% think that proper education of the community is required for appropriate disposal of unused drugs.Conclusions: Intervention by education about prudent drug disposal techniques that are also environmentally safe and acceptable is the need of time to change their behavior. There is also needing to understand the practice and awareness of the public to make any such education by program a success.
ABSTRACT
To consider what pharmacists can do to prevent patients from having leftover prescription drugs, we conducted a qualitative study about the various causes behind the unused drugs. We interviewed one male and four female home-care patients who had leftover prescription drugs that pharmacists detected via their home visiting service. The Grounded Theory Approach was used for analysis, and two types were identified as “exogenous factors that cause confusion for the patient” and “patient’s personal thoughts and feelings.” “Exogenous factors that cause confusion” involved eight factors, including unsuitable dosing schedule for lifestyle, complex timing for taking medicine, and inadequate support for enhancing patients’ compliance. These factors were divided into ［problems with prescription］ and ［difficult changes to manage］. In “patient’s personal thoughts and feelings,” 16 concepts were identified and their broader concepts comprised six categories: ［distrust of drugs］, ［taking a positive view about one’s own non-compliance］, ［psychological distance from medical staff］, and others. It was assumed that there would be a perception gap of compliance between patients and medical staff. Moreover, patients affirmed their poor compliance and they did not see the occurrence of leftover drugs as a problem. Additionally, psychological distance from medical staff prevents patients from consultation. Therefore, pharmacists should check patients’ compliance for each drug as well as any medical problems. Knowing patients’ inherent mind revealed by this study, the pharmacist can assist medication alongside patients and contribute to the early prevention of unused drugs.
ABSTRACT
<b>Objective: </b>To examine the effect of pharmacists’ visits to homebound patients on the elimination of unused drugs.<br><b>Method: </b>We conducted a survey with pharmacies throughout Japan that provided home-visit service, asking them questions regarding their work with up to five patients (the survey period was from January 15 through the end of February, 2013). Main survey questions were: (1) whether they managed unused drugs since the start of their home-visit, and (2) how they managed the unused drugs. For (2), we conducted case studies by asking the pharmacists to choose the case that impressed them most and describe the unused drugs involved, actions taken, and the results.<br><b>Results: </b>Data on 5,447 patients were collected from 1,890 pharmacies throughout Japan (collection rate: 56.9%). Pharmacists managed unused drugs from 2,484 patients (45.6%). 1,746 patients (3,590 cases) were qualified for analysis. In 2,332 cases (65.0%), pharmacist intervention eliminated the incidences of unused drugs. In 782 cases (21.8%), unused drugs were discarded, while the number of drug administration days was adjusted in 2,623 cases (73.1%). In 21 cases (0.6%), drugs were both discarded and had the number of days adjusted. There were others for 164 cases (4.5%). The total price of the eliminated unused drugs was approximately 6,920,000 yen (4,000 yen/person). Illnesses that benefited most from the elimination of unused drugs were chronic respiratory failure (16,306 yen/person), and Parkinson’s disease (4,803 yen/person).<br><b>Conclusion: </b>We confirmed the economic effect of eliminating unused drugs by pharmacists’ home visits.