scholarly journals Patients’ Knowledge and Attitude toward the Disposal of Medications

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aeshah AlAzmi ◽  
Hani AlHamdan ◽  
Rayf Abualezz ◽  
Faiz Bahadig ◽  
Noha Abonofal ◽  
...  

Background. Safe disposal of medications is of high concern as malpractice may lead to harmful consequences such as undesirable effects, prescription drug abuse, overstocking, self-medication, accidental overdose, and even death. There is a lack of uniform and nationwide guidance on how patients should safely dispose their leftover medications. This study aims to assess patients’ knowledge and attitude regarding the disposal of medications. Method. This research is a cross-sectional study. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from various outpatient pharmaceutical services in King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMC), Jeddah. Results. The study revealed that 73% of the respondents throw the medications in the trash, 14% return the medications to a pharmacy, 5% never dispose them, and 3% donate the medications to a friend or charity centers. More than 80% of the respondents never received any information or advice from healthcare providers about safe and proper disposal of medications. Conclusion. Our findings suggest that there is an immediate requirement for the establishment of collaborative and uniform guidelines for the safe disposal of leftover medications. A policy for drug donation needs to be included in routine patient education as well as educational and collective programs for the public.

Author(s):  
Basheerahmed Abdulaziz Mannasaheb ◽  
Mohammed Jaber Al-Yamani ◽  
Sarah Abdulrahman Alajlan ◽  
Lamyaa Munahi Alqahtani ◽  
Shrouq Eid Alsuhimi ◽  
...  

Rational and responsible self-medication (SM) is not only the key to better health outcomes, but also key to limiting adverse drug events. This institution-based cross-sectional study utilized seven- and four-item scales to assess the knowledge and attitude towards SM. Similarly, SM practices were measured using eight scale questions consisting of SM practice during the last six months, type of drug consumed, reason and frequency of SM, and so on. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS. Overall, 371 students completed the questionnaire. The students with a good level of knowledge and positive attitude towards SM were 60.64% and 66.8%, respectively. About 55.5% of students practiced SM during the last six months using antipyretics (37.7%), multivitamins (36.4%), sleeping aids (20.2%), and anti-histamines (18.6%). Headache (79.2%), fever (37.7%), pain (25.9%), and colds and coughs (25.3%) were the illnesses for which they sought SM. The students admitted that drug side effects (75%), drug resistance (33.7%), drug interaction (41.5%), and poor treatment outcome (28.3%) were the consequences of irrational SM practice. Students (87.6%) propose that extending SM awareness through the Ministry of Health (83%) and pharmaceutical companies (48%) as major platforms would improvise the rational practice. Since AlMaarefa University students will be future healthcare professionals, their perception must be considered and accordingly educated to practice rational SM.


Author(s):  
Sujatha Peethala ◽  
Sridevi Garapati

Background: Injections are commonly used in healthcare settings for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of various illnesses. Unsafe injection practices put patients and healthcare providers at risk of infectious and non-infectious adverse events. Safe injection practices are part of standard precautions and are aimed at maintaining basic levels of patient safety and provider protections. Objectives of this study were to assess the knowledge and observe safety practices while giving the injections.Methods: A cross-sectional study conducted among 200 internees in Government General Hospital, Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh in the months of January and February 2010. Data was obtained by semi- structured questionnaire; analyzed by using SPSS software version16.0 at p<0.05 significance level.Results: In the present study, knowledge of internees was enquired into and practices were also observed in various aspects of injection safety. Knowledge on washing hands before giving injection was 64% but when it comes to practice, it was only 29%; knowledge on use of hub-cutter after giving injection was found to be 48% but in practice hub-cutter use was observed to be very less (5.5%); knowledge on safe disposal of used syringes was 42% but only 9.0% were practicing safe disposal. Similarly knowledge on use of color coded bags according to guidelines was 40.5% and in practice it was observed to be 14%.Conclusions: In the present study knowledge and practices on injection safety was found to be poor; dissemination of IEC, behavior change campaigns and continuing education on universal precautions and proper disposal of injection related waste was recommended. 


Author(s):  
Thatikonda Nithisha ◽  
Sarita K. Sharma

Background: Paracetamol is the commonest available analgesic and antipyretic. It is readily accessed from pharmacy and provisional shops as over the counter drug, misuse of which can result in serious side effects like hepatic injury. The incidence of paracetamol overdose and toxicity is increasing today in India. However, there is little research published on same. So the present study was carried out to identify the extent and pattern of paracetamol usage for children and the knowledge and attitude of parents towards it.Methods: Present cross sectional study was carried out in an outpatient clinic in Warangal district of Telangana among 183 parents whose child had suffered from fever within one month of attending the clinic. Data was collected by interview technique using a pre tested questionnaire and analyzed using EPI INFO 7 3.5.Results: Out of 183 subjects, 156 (85.2%) had given paracetamol (single and combination) for fever. Of these156, 39 (25%) gave excess dose than permitted for the weight of the child. 105 (58%) had self medicated. The dosage per day was significantly more in self medicaters (p≤0.01). 36 (23%) had the misconception that paracetamol overdose does not cause liver toxicity. 128 (89%) of 143 subjects who gave incorrect dosage stated that it is not harmful to self administer and they advise others to self medicate.Conclusions: The knowledge of daily dosage and side effects of paracetamol is poor. The overall view is “self medication of paracetamol is not harmful”. This attitude of caregivers may pose a potential risk for paracetamol overdose unless they are educated.


Author(s):  
DIVYA GOEL

Objective: The use of drugs (prescription as well as non-prescription by the individual for treating self-diagnosed conditions/symptoms is a practice prevalent all around the world, though the extent, the reason may vary. The practice of self-medication is increasingly becoming a part of self-care. If practiced properly and with the authentic knowledge of drugs, it can save resources such as time and money. However, its improper use may lead to various health problems like adverse drug reactions, prolonged suffering, and drug-dependence and increase resistance among various pathogens. It has many implications, especially among medical students who have some knowledge and exposure to drugs and can present a serious threat to professionalism in medicine and it has the potential to put at risk public trust into this profession. The aim of this research was to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of self-medication among medical students. Methods: Research was performed as a cross-sectional study and it included 150, 2nd year (4th semester) students of a medical college. Students filled out a questionnaire created for the purpose of this research and consisted of both open-ended and close-ended questions about demographic and self-medication Consenting students anonymously filled the questionnaire. Questions about self-medication were related to the period of the previous three months. Results: Out of 150 filled questionnaires, data of 126 were analysed as twenty-four Questionnaires were incomplete. 90.47%% medical students were found to practice self-medication. Symptoms for which they took the drugs for self-medication were fever (49.68%) followed by headache, common cold/cough and pain abdomen. Drugs taken by them for self-medication were Paracetamol (85.79%), antibiotics (77.54%), analgesics, Antihistaminic and cough suppressants. Ease (43.65%) was cited as the main reason for self-medication by the respondents. Most common source of drug information was their experience in the past illness (54.03%) Of the respondents 90.48% knew about adverse drug reactions and 93.65% knew about drug-drug interactions. Conclusion: This study shows that the practice of self-medication is rampant among medical students of the institute. In this situation, awareness should be created toward appropriate antibiotic usage and the practice of responsible self-medication needs to be promoted among future healthcare providers. Furthermore, stringent implementation of laws governing the sale of prescription medicines can help in limiting the self-medication practice.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 14-19
Author(s):  
K Indrapriyadharshini ◽  
Subramanian Vishnuprasad ◽  
Jagadeson Mahesh ◽  
H. Faizunisa

Objectives: Antibiotic resistance is rising to dangerously high levels in all parts of the world. New resistance mechanism is emerging and spreading globally, threatening our ability to treat common infectious diseases. Dentists prescribe about 9–11% of all common antibiotics. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge and attitude of antibiotic resistance among graduating dental students. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 294 participants between November 2019 and December 2019. A structured questionnaire consisting of 14 questions was administered to the dental students. Descriptive analysis of demographic variables was done and knowledge score and attitude score were performed using Kruskal–Wallis H test. Results: About 85% of the participants suggested amoxicillin as the choice of antibiotic. Among the four domains suggesting the solution for antibiotic resistance, 48% of the final year students suggested avoiding self-medication as a solution, 34% of interns suggested avoiding over dosage, and 48% of the 3rd year students suggested completing the course of antibiotics. A majority of (87%) of the final year students suggested the usage of prophylactic antibiotics in patients with infective endocarditis. The difference in mean change in attitude scores among the groups was statistically significant (P = 0.028). Conclusion: The research showed variable levels of knowledge and attitude about antibiotic resistance among the students of different year of study. The study result insists the need to educate the dental students more regarding antibiotics and their proper use.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wudneh Simegn ◽  
Baye Dagnew ◽  
Henok Dagne

Abstract Introduction Inappropriate self-medication results in wastage of resources, drug resistance and hence serious health risk. Knowledge acquisition and attitudinal change is required for avoiding self-medication practice. There is paucity of published articles regarding this topic. Therefore, this study aimed to study knowledge, Attitude and associated factors towards self-medication among health professionals at University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, northwest Ethiopia.Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted among health professionals of University of Gondar comprehensive specialized hospital using simple random sampling technique and self-administered questionnaire. We used Epi Info 7 and SPSS 20 for data entry and statistical analysis. Descriptive statistics were computed logistic regression had been performed to identify associated factors for knowledge and attitude separately. We executed crude and adjusted Odds ratio with 95% uncertainty interval. Variables with a p<0.05 were treated as significant. Results Four hundred and twelve health professionals participated in the study with 97.4% response rate. The mean age of study participants’ was 29.9 (±5.43, range; 20-60) years and 220 (53.4%) participants were males. From the participants 233(56.6%) (95% UI: 51.8-61.4%) had good knowledge about self-medication and 263 (63.8%) (95% UI: 59.2-68.4%) had good attitude towards self-medication. Knowledge of self-medication was associated with age of 32-60 years (AOR=2.19, UI: 1.14-4.22), Bachelor degree (AOR=6.49, UI: 1.86-22.69), Years after last graduation (AOR=2.49, UI: 1.41-4.41), working hours of 56-110 per week (AOR=2.35, UI: 1.18-4.67), and good attitude (AOR=2.95, UI: 1.77-4.91). Besides this, good attitude was associated with low workload out of workplace (AOR=2.78, UI: 1.03-7.50), ever taking antibiotics (AOR=2.45, UI: 1.31-4.50), and good knowledge (AOR= 2.64, UI: 1.65-4.20).Conclusion The study demonstrated that the knowledge and attitude of health professionals towards self-medication are relatively high. However still there is a need for health education on the implication and danger of self-medication. There is also need for government to increase awareness by creating training opportunity and incorporating in curricula.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emad Aborajooh ◽  
Mohammed Qussay Al-Sabbagh ◽  
Baraa Mafrachi ◽  
Muhammad Yassin ◽  
Rami Dwairi ◽  
...  

UNSTRUCTURED We aimed to measure levels of knowledge, awareness, and stress about COVID-19 among health care providers (HCP) in Jordan. This was a cross-sectional study on 397 HCPs that utilized an internet-based questionnaire to evaluate knowledge about COVID-19, availability of personal protective equipment (PEE), future perception, and psychological distress. Ordinal logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate factors associated with knowledge and psychological stress. Overall, 24.4% and 21.2% of the participants showed excellent knowledge and poor knowledge, respectively. Social media (61.7%) was the most commonly used source of information. Being female (β= 0.521, 95% CI 0.049 to 0.992), physician (β=1.421, 95% CI 0.849 to 1.992), or using literature to gain knowledge (β= 1.161, 95% CI 0.657 to 1.664) were positive predictors of higher knowledge. While having higher stress (β= -0.854, 95% CI -1.488 to -0.221) and using social media (β= -0.434, 95% CI -0.865 to -0.003) or conventional media (β= -0.884, 95% CI -1.358 to -0.409) for information were negative predictors of knowledge levels. HCPs are advised to use the literature as a source of information about the virus, its transmission, and the best practice. PPEs should be secured for HCPs to the psychological stress associated with treating COVID-19 patients.


2021 ◽  
Vol 96 ◽  
pp. 104643
Author(s):  
Vivian F.C. Wilschut ◽  
Birgit Pianosi ◽  
Harmieke van Os-Medendorp ◽  
Henk W. Elzevier ◽  
Jan S. Jukema ◽  
...  

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