Volume 24, Issue 106, November - December, 2020

Current disposal practice of unused and expired medicines amongst patients visiting a tertiary care hospital in North India

Paras Monga¹, Rubi¹, Taniya Pruthi², Sumeet Gupta³, Bimal K Agrawal^2♦

¹Department of Pharmacy Practice, MM College of Pharmacy, Maharishi Markandeshwar Deemed to be University, Mullana 133207, India
²Department of Medicine, MM Institute of Medical Sciences & Research, Maharishi Markandeshwar Deemed to be University, Mullana 133207, India
³Department of Pharmacology, MM College of Pharmacy, Maharishi Markandeshwar Deemed to be University, Mullana 133207, India

^♦Corresponding author
Department of Medicine, MM Institute of Medical Sciences & Research, Maharishi Markandeshwar Deemed to be University, Mullana 133207, India; Email: onlybimal@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Background: Expired/Unused medicines are potentially toxic substances that are to be disposed of safely for protection of the environment and prevention of various health hazards directly and indirectly. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess knowledge, practice, and awareness towards disposal of left over medications among general public visiting tertiary care hospitals. Methods: A cross-sectional, observational and questionnaire based study conducted among 555 patients in north Indian tertiary care hospital during the period of December 2019 to February 2020. Results: A total of 555 patients had finished the review which included 55.5% females and 44.5% males. The majority of them were illiterate (42%). Less than half (46%) of the patients were aware about the meaning of expired medicines. An overwhelming proportion (87%) of the consumers admitted of keeping unused medications at home, out of which analgesics (46%) was the predominant one. Self-discontinuation (58.7%) was given the main reason for accumulation of medications at home and most exercised method among them was disposal in the trash (71%). All the contestants were in the favour of a programme to collect unused/expired medications from their home. Discussion: It has been seen that different methods of drug disposal is in practice which are unsafe for the environment as well as for the population. So in this study, it has been highlighted the need for establishment of uniform guidelines for the harmless disposal of medicines. The healthcare giver should provide safer medicine dumping directions on scheduled patient training session.

Keywords: Left over medications, drug disposal, environment, cross sectional study

Medical Science, 2020, 24(106), 4303-4310

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