ONUS OF CLINICAL PHARMACIST ON ESTIMATING THE VOLUME AND IMPLICATION OF RESEARCH FINDING OF UNUSED PHARMACEUTICALS IN HOUSE HOLD

Jesindha Beyatricks; Sreeja N; Abhishek; Archana; Anson; Anisha

Volume : VIII, Issue : VII, July - 2019

ONUS OF CLINICAL PHARMACIST ON ESTIMATING THE VOLUME AND IMPLICATION OF RESEARCH FINDING OF UNUSED PHARMACEUTICALS IN HOUSE HOLD

Jesindha Beyatricks, Sreeja N, Abhishek, Archana, Anson, Anisha

Abstract :

To evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practice of consumers in India about disposal of unused medicines.A structured questionnaire, including both open and closed ended questions which was designed to collect demographic information as well as information on name or generic name of the pharmaceutical product, quantity of leftover pharmaceuticals, storage conditions and disposal methods used etc and pre validated before administering to 170 consumers. According to our study 50% respondents were not aware about medication wastage and 50% percentage respondents were aware about medication wastage. From the total respondents 95% were not heard the term drug take back system and 5% were having the knowledge on the same. In our study, 49.77% of the respondents discarded or disposing the leftover, expired, unwanted, or unused medications by throwing them in the trash or garbage while 16.29% stored unused medications in households itself. And the other commonly practiced method of discarding leftover medications was flushed down in the sink or toilet (13.12%), burned (10.4%), given away to friends or charity (5.43%), returned to the pharmacy or clinics (3.61%). Majority of consumers are aware about the need for safe disposal of unused medicines. But the right attitude for practice of safe disposal of medicines is lacking. A need for increased awareness regarding safe disposal of medicines is acknowledged by majority of consumers.