A study to assess the impact of educational intervention on consumer‘s knowledge and practice regarding disposal of unused and expired drugs in Puducherry.

Dr. Mangaiarkkarasi Adhimoolam; Miss. Mahitha A Subramanyam Raju; Dr. Sakthibalan Murugesan

Volume : VIII, Issue : VI, June - 2019

A study to assess the impact of educational intervention on consumer‘s knowledge and practice regarding disposal of unused and expired drugs in Puducherry.

Dr. Mangaiarkkarasi Adhimoolam, Miss. Mahitha A Subramanyam Raju, Dr. Sakthibalan Murugesan

Abstract :

Background: World Health Organization reported that unused and expired drugs are unsuitable for drug donations as these medications and their metabolites have been recognized as harmful substances to environment. A safe and cost–effective pharmaceutical waste management program to educate customers on standard medicine disposal practices is imperative now. Objective: To evaluate the current method of disposal of unused and expired drugs among the consumers and provide education on safe, easy and costless disposal of them. Material and Methods: Cross sectional education interventional, Questionnaire–based study conducted among 300 patients/consumers attending different outpatient departments in a tertiary care teaching hospital. The responses were expressed in descriptive statistics using SPSS 20.0 software. Results: The types of unused and expired drugs stocked commonly were NSAIDs, cardiovascular, antiasthma, antidiabetic drugs etc., and 49% of them stocked more than one group of drugs. Majority of them revealed throwing the drugs in dust bins (82.3%) as a method of drug disposal. Others were flushing in toilets(6.7%), piling at home (3.3%),pouring in sinks (3%), throw in bins and sinks(2.7%), return to pharmacy (0.3%) etc., The educational intervention based on National formulary of India & WHO pharmaceutical waste management effectively increased the knowledge and practice regarding the disposal of unused / expired drugs and dangerous hazards of poisoning in children. Conclusion: Knowledge and practice of drug disposal was inappropriate among the consumers and education intervention considerably improved the techniques to be followed. Regular public education by healthcare workers with the help of government and other stakeholders could reduce the quantity of unused/expired drugs entering the environment.