A study on awareness regarding disposal of unused medicines among consumers at a tertiary care teaching hospital of north india

Abstract

Background:In the recent years, large number of human pharmaceuticals have been introduced to the environment by landfill when household medications are thrown to trash and liquid medications gain access to the environment via liquid drainage systems. There is lack of knowledge and awareness in the general public regarding the safe disposal of unused and expired medicines. The objective was to assess the awareness regarding disposal of unused medicines among consumers at a tertiary care teaching hospital of north India Methods: It was a cross-sectional observational questionnaire-based study carried out on 220 consumers in medicine outpatient department (OPD) of a tertiary care teaching hospital in North India for 3 months. All the participants were provided the pre-validated self-administered questionnaire. The final questionnaire consisted of twelve questions to assess participants' knowledge and attitude towards disposal of the medicines. The data was analyzed with the help of descriptive statistics. Results: It is quite evident from the present study that majority of participants 56.36% stated 1-5 drugs were left-over drugs at their homes. Most of the leftover medicines were analgesics in 59.1% followed by antibiotics in 51.36%. Most common dosage form of these leftover medicines were tablets in 85.9% of respondents. Majority of the respondents (55.9%) were not aware of the adverse outcomes of the pharmaceuticals in the environment. The most common method followed by majority of the participants for disposing of the solid, semi-solid and liquid dosage forms was garbage in 95%, 91.4% and 76.4% of consumers respectively. About 9.31% of the participants were in favour of initiating a program to collect unused medications from home. Conclusions: It can be concluded from the present study that the consumers had poor knowledge regarding the safe drug disposal techniques. Therefore, efforts need to be done by the health care professionals to make people educate regarding the safe drug disposal techniques.

Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Unused and Expired Medication Disposal among Patients Visiting Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital

“…According to their understanding, it can cause environmental contamination, can kill wildlife, and can cause accidental swallow by young children. This finding is higher compared to a prior study conducted in Ethiopia [ 16 ] and other studies conducted elsewhere in the world [ 2 , 6 , 8 , 17 , 21 , 31 ]. But it is relatively lower compared to a study conducted in Kabul, Afghanistan [ 4 ].…”

“…Only 151 (39.3%) of the respondents heard and were informed about unused or expired medicine disposal instructions. This is relatively lower compared to a study conducted in Ethiopia and elsewhere [ 2 , 14 , 16 ], but higher compared to other studies from Pakistan, India, and Saudi [ 8 , 17 , 20 ]. The difference might be attributed to differences in awareness creation campaigns and programs on safe medicine waste disposal.…”

“…This is higher compared to studies conducted in Ethiopia (29%) [ 32 ] and Pakistan (35.3%) [ 8 ]. But many other studies reported a higher level of unused and expired medicine storage practice in their households [ 2 , 4 , 6 , 7 , 14 , 16 , 17 , 31 , 33 , 34 ]. The difference might be related to differences in medicine or information access across the studies.…”

A study to assess the knowledge and awareness regarding safe disposal of pharmaceutical wastes among 2nd year medical and para-medical students in a tertiary care teaching hospital in North India

“…This was contrary to the findings of similar studies where tablets were the most common dosage forms at home. 11 This can be explained by the fact that dermatophytosis is one of the most prevalent public health problems in developing countries like India. The casual health seeking attitude and lax drug control policies in India are facilitating over the counter (OTC) topical medication abuse.…”

“…A pre validated questionnaire from previous studies was used for this assessment. 11 It consisted of 12 questions pertaining to the number and type of medicines found in their homes, reasons for their presence, the methods of disposal adopted, their awareness about hazards of improper disposal and their opinion regarding means of spreading awareness about safe disposal of pharmaceutical wastes. Ethical clearance was obtained by the institutional ethics committee and the study was conducted in Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand between July and August 2019.…”