Abstract
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than half of dispensed medications were inappropriately prescribed, which causes a build-up of unused medications and increasing medication disposal. The aim of this study is to assess the level of knowledge, attitude and current practice of patients in Hospital Tapah, Perak, Malaysia towards this issue. A cross-sectional study was conducted by using a self- administered questionnaire adapted from Su Lan et al. (2018). Patients aged more than 17 years old who visited outpatient pharmacy and who admitted into medical ward; the caregivers of children who admitted into paediatric ward, Hospital Tapah were enrolled in this study, selected through convenience sampling. Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine significant association between independent and dependent parameters. The significance level was set at p < 0.1. Total of 344 valid questionnaires were returned in which 34.9% (n = 120) men and 65.1% (n = 224) women participated. The majority of the participants has general knowledge of the correct way of disposing medicines. Although 57.3% of the participants have heard about ‘Return Your Medicines Programme’ (RMP) implemented by the Ministry of Health Malaysia, only 38.1% returned their unused or expired medication to the nearby hospital/clinic. Most of them were found to have a positive attitude regarding this issue, nevertheless only 24.7% practiced a proper medication disposal. The utilisation of RMP could be improved by increasing the awareness of safe medication disposal, as significant association has been found between the level of knowledge and attitude with current disposal practice of patients in Hospital Tapah.
Highlights
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), rational use of medicine is defined as “patients receive medications appropriate to their clinical needs, in doses that meet their own individual requirements, for an adequate period of time, and at the lowest cost to them and their community” (WHO 2002)
Patients aged more than 17 years old who visited outpatient pharmacy and who admitted into medical ward; the caregivers of children who admitted into paediatric ward, Hospital Tapah were enrolled in this study, selected through convenience sampling
The utilisation of Return Your Medicines Programme’ (RMP) could be improved by increasing the awareness of safe medication disposal, as significant association has been found between the level of knowledge and attitude with current disposal practice of patients in Hospital Tapah
Summary
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), rational use of medicine is defined as “patients receive medications appropriate to their clinical needs, in doses that meet their own individual requirements, for an adequate period of time, and at the lowest cost to them and their community” (WHO 2002). It was reported that more than half of dispensed medications were inappropriately prescribed, which causes unnecessary storage of medicine and creating environmental threat (Bashaar et al 2017). The improper storage of unused and expired medicine can cause unintentional poisoning for other people, especially vulnerable group such as young children. This may promote or lead to drug diversion such as medication abuse or misuse. The main concern with this issue is the incorrect way of medication disposal which could contaminate the environment and pose risk to water, air, agricultural products and even harm animals or livestock (Bashaar et al 2017)
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