Impact of Educational Intervention on Pharmaceutical Waste Management in a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital-Healthcare Staff Centered Study

Abstract

Expired and unused medicines are potentially toxic substances that should be managed effectively to avoid accumulation of potentially toxic pharmaceuticals in the hospital and environment. This study aimed to identify and assess the disposal practices of pharmaceutical waste at tertiary care teaching hospital. A cross-sectional prospective questionnaire study was conducted for a period of six months at tertiary care teaching hospital with a sample size of 120. Healthcare professionals above the age of 18 years were included in the study. Data from the questionnaire was analyzed using appropriate statistical tools and Chi-square test. A pre and post educational intervention study was conducted among 120 participants. The study found that 90.83% (109) participants were under the age group of 18-25 years. Among them 77.5% (93) were female and 22.5% (27) were male. Before intervention only 80.8% (97) participants were aware of different types of bags used to dispose pharmaceutical waste, whereas after educational intervention 97.5% (117) are aware of bags used to dispose pharmaceutical waste (x2=0.000<0.001). Before intervention 55.83% (67) of participants were known of drug takeback system, after intervention 99.16% (119) known of drug takeback system (x2=0.000<0.001). Majority of the study participants agreed that safe pharmaceutical disposal practice is an important concern in both pre and post study. Hence awareness and concern regarding the problem is high. It was observed that the knowledge of healthcare staff about pharmaceutical waste management was good. We found that educational programs can improve staff awareness level on pharmaceutical waste management.