Practice, awareness and opinion of pharmacists toward disposal of unwanted medications in Kuwait

Abahussain, Eman; Waheedi, Mohammad; Koshy, Samuel

doi:10.1016/j.jsps.2012.04.001

Cited by 69 publications

(78 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…10 A study in Kuwait reported trash as the common disposal route used by pharmacists (73%). 12 Another study in New Zealand reported third party contractors as the most common route of disposal for unused solid and semi-solid formulations; liquid (44.7%) and class B medications (58%) were disposed down the pharmacy sink. 13 Further, about onethird respondents in our study did not know the fate of the drugs collected by the distributor.…”

Section: Awareness About Proper Disposal Techniquesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Minimizing pharmaceutical waste: The role of the pharmacist

Aditya¹,

Rattan²

2014

J. Young Pharm.

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Leftover and expired drugs, an indirect measure of wasted healthcare resources, reflect lost opportunities to achieve therapeutic outcomes (either due to incorrect choice or noncompliance) and a burden for the environment. In addition, medication waste is costly to national health systems because The questionnaire assessed disposal of leftover and expired drugs by pharmacists and their knowledge of drug disposal by the distributors. The awareness of the correct method of drug disposal, ways to minimize the pharmaceutical waste and extent of dissemination of information about drug disposal to patients was also evaluated. Results: The response rate was 56%. Although majority of the pharmacies have a system to dispose expired and leftover drugs, the knowledge about disposal was found to be incomplete. Most of the leftover drugs belonging to different dosage forms were returned to the distributor. One-third pharmacists did not know the correct method to dispose drugs. Majority of them did not advise patients about disposal of unused drugs. Only 58% believed that improper drug disposal is intimately connected to environmental pollution. Conclusion: Pharmacists have new roles and responsibilities to function as collaborative members of healthcare team by disseminating information about correct ways to dispose unused drugs.

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Section: Awareness About Proper Disposal Techniquesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Minimizing pharmaceutical waste: The role of the pharmacist

Aditya¹,

Rattan²

2014

J. Young Pharm.

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“…Only one recent study has assessed the safety measures used by parents to store and dispose of medication to prevent their children from being poisoned [21]. Several studies were conducted in Kuwait to explore practice, awareness, and opinion concerning the disposal of unused and expired medications [22,23]. Public awareness surrounding the disposal of medication is considered low in Saudi Arabia.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the disposal of expired and unused medication in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional study

et al. 2016

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Background Improper disposal of medication has several possible consequences such as childhood poisoning, environmental pollution, a negative impact on wildlife, and antibiotic resistance. The number of studies conducted to characterize pharmaceutical disposal practices is limited, particularly in the Middle East. Objective The aim of this cross-sectional study was to examine the behaviour of individuals with respect to the disposal of expired and unused medications. Furthermore, we aimed to identify the best methods of education regarding appropriate, safe disposal of medication. Setting The study was carried out in King Khalid University Hospital (KKUH), and King Saud University (KSU), during a 3-month period from February 2015 to April 2015. Method Twelve hundred patients were randomly selected from KKUH and KSU. Participants were invited to complete paper-based questionnaire with self enumeration. Pilot testing was conducted and involved 50 randomly selected participants. Main outcome measures The proportion of expired medications present in the home and their therapeutic groups, disposal methods of expired and unused medications, and preferred educational methods regarding safe and proper disposing of medications. Results A substantial proportion (79.15 %) of respondents disposed of unwanted medication via household waste, while a small proportion (1.70 %) returned unwanted medication to a pharmacy. Although currently practised disposal methods are undoubtedly unsuitable, 70.20 % of respondents considered finding appropriate, safe methods via which to dispose of unwanted medication their responsibility, and 78.6 % expressed an interest in receiving information concerning the correct disposal of unwanted medication. Conclusion We have demonstrated that a low percentage of respondents have ever received information regarding correct medication disposal. Moreover, the results have shown that over half of the respondents store antibiotics in their households. Additionally, respondents weren't aware of the consequences of keeping expired medication at home. It is quite clear that the awareness of proper and safe drug disposal among the Saudi population is quite low making it a priority of concerned authorities to implement educational programs.

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“…The findings would appear to support this call for further research. It was found that although the pharmacists were aware of the harmful impact of the improper disposal of unwanted pharmaceuticals, their disposal practices were suboptimal, [21].…”

Section: Kuwaitmentioning

confidence: 99%