Authentication of Unused Medicine Domination for NGOs

This project aims to donate medicines which are unused. The unused medicine can be donated for further utilization by a needy person. This application helps the user to donate unused medicines to NGO. Admin will login and manage members by deleting and blocking the users providing improper or expired medicines. Admin has to verify the uploaded image for their expiry date.NGO manages the stock which helps to maintain a record of the available medicine. Members can also check their previous data of medicine transactions. The donation of unused medicines is not accepted worldwide, although it is legal in some countries. A constant increase in the rate of prescription writing has prompted several charity organizations to collect a growing number of unused medicines. WHO guidelines for drug donations discourage donation of unused medicines, as this may create a number of problems. Detrimental effects of drug donations for use in emergency situations have been reported, as the arrival of unsorted, useless and expired medicines requires management and sorting, which may take up the time of health workers and eventually lead to the appearance of these drugs on the black market. However, cases of regulated donations have been reported in the USA, where several states have adopted laws in order to facilitate the redistribution of unused drugs to indigent and uninsured patients.This project aims to donate medicines which are unused. The unused medicine can be donated for further utilization by a needy person. This application helps the user to donate unused medicines to NGO. Admin will login and manage members by deleting and blocking the users providing improper or expired medicines. Admin has to verify the uploaded image for their expiry date.NGO manages the stock which helps to maintain a record of the available medicine.Members can also check their previous data of medicine transactions.

Knowledge, attitude, and practices on disposal methods of expired and unused medicines among students in public academic institutions in Lusaka, Zambia

Background: Unsafe disposal of unused and expired household medicines is a public health problem and mostly occur because of a lack of knowledge towards suitable medicine disposal methods. Thus, we aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices on the disposal methods of unused and expired medicines among students in public academic institutions in Lusaka, Zambia.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study in which 385 students from three higher learning academic institutions were interviewed face to face using a structured questionnaire from 10th May to 24th June 2019. The cleaned data was then transferred to statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 25.0 for analysis.Results: The mean age of the participants was 23 (SD±2.9). Out of the 385 participants, 215 (55.8%) did not know much about medical waste and 345 (89.6%) of them did not have any previous information regarding proper and safe disposal of unused and expired medicine. However, 351 (91.4%) of the participants appropriately responded that unsafe disposal of unused and expired medicine poses a threat to human health and can harm the environment. Throwing unused and expired medicine in household garbage/bin was the most frequently used disposal practice followed by flushing them in toilet/sink as responded by 231 (60.0%) and 128 (33.3%) of participants respectively. Only 17 (4.42%) reported returning unused and expired medicines to the nearest pharmacy. Conclusions: The majority of the study participants used unsafe methods to dispose of unused and expired medicine. However, most of the participants acknowledged that unsafe disposal of unused and expired medicines is a public health problem and proposed the need to introduce drug take-back programs in the communities.

Storage Management and Wastage of Reproductive Health Medicines in Public Health Facilities of West Wollega Zone, Ethiopia: Mixed Study

Background: Keeping proper storage conditions at health facilities is important to reduce pharmaceutical wastage caused by environmental factors. The expiration of medicines at the health facilities led to wastage of potentially life-saving drugs and unnecessary expenditure on the disposal of those expired medicines. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess pharmaceutical stores and wastage of reproductive health medicines due to expirationMethod: A facility-based descriptive cross-sectional quantitative and qualitative study was conducted using a checklist, structured and semi-structured questionnaires.Results: Among 23 health facilities assessed, 17 (73.91%) (4(100%) hospitals and 13(68.42%) health centers) fulfilled desirable storage conditions. The total value of reproductive health medicines wasted due to expire in surveyed facilities was 357,920.52 ETB (12,323.81 US dollars) and the Percentage of Stock Wasted due to Expiration was 8.04%. Levonorgestrel 0.75mg tablet contributed highest percentage to expired medicines.Conclusion: Pharmaceutical stores in hospitals had equipment and furniture, fulfilled desirable storage conditions, whereas, significant number of the health centers’ medical store did not comply with the recommended storage conditions. Challenges of store management identified were poor infrastructure, administrative challenges, and shortage of human resource. Stock wasted due to expiration was high and the contributing challenge was non-need-based supply. So Ethiopian pharmaceutical Supply Agency should supply reproductive health medicines based on need and concerned government bodies should avail pharmaceutical store infrastructures, hire professionals, and follow health facilities administrations.

MEDICINE INVETORY CONTROL BY CONSIDERING EXPIRY PERIODS AND PRODUCT RETURNS USING THE ALWAYS BETTER CONTROL (ABC) ANALYSIS AND THE HANDLEY WITHIN MODEL OF ECONOMIC ORDER QUALITY (EOQ) AT PHARMACIES IN INDONESIA

This study aims to control medicine inventories by considering the expiration period and the product return using The Always Better Control (ABC) analysis and The handley within model of Economic Order Quantity (EOQ). The results of this study indicate that there are 21% of medicines or 22 types of medicines belonging to group A with the use of 74.64%. for group B there were 25% drugs or 28 types of drugs with a budget use of 15.31% of all medicines. Meanwhile, there are 55% of medicines or 60 types of medicines belonging to group C with the use of a budget of 10.05% of the total medicines and the calculation using the EOQ method by considering the expiration period and product returns in this research has a more optimal order size compared to the previous method so that it can minimize expired medicines and estimate which medicines will expire at the end of the cycle so that the total cost of supplies at the pharmacy is more optimal.

Minimizing Medication Errors by Triangle Check of Look-Alike Sound-Alike Medications from Crash Cart of Gynecology and Obstetrics in Emergency

Background: According to the Joint Commission, crash cart-related patient safety issues are mixed-up medications, medication errors, damaged or expired medicines, improper checking of crash cart and non-competent staff. The availability of crash cart with all the needed emergency items, appropriate clinical protocols and rapid response team are regarded as important tools for the management of clinical emergencies in obstetrics and gynecology. The aim of this study was to design and implement a strategy to prevent the medication errors of look-alike sound-alike medications in emergency situations from the crash cart of gynecology and obstetrics. Method: A nurse was assigned to record all the medications-related events in emergency situations along with receiving the medication order from healthcare professionals and dispensing medications from crash cart of gynecology and obstetrics. Triangle check of look-alike sound-alike medications was regarded necessary. Results: A significant reduction in number of look-alike sound-alike medication errors and near misses was recorded (p<0.05). Discussion: This strategy can be implemented not only to the gynecology and obstetrics but also to other areas of healthcare where look-alike sound-alike medications are stored, dispensed, administered or supplied and will be of great help in emergency situations. Conclusion: A healthcare professional should be assigned at crash cart to record all the medications-related events and triangle check of dispensed look-alike sound-alike medications must be compulsory in emergency conditions.

Poor and Unsatisfactory Disposal of Expired and Unused Pharmaceuticals: A Global Issue

Pharmaceuticals are beneficial to humankind and emerged as crucial arms to treat/manage multiple disease pathogenesis in the present era. In analogous, these medicines/ medical devices should be used cautiously as they possess a potential threat to induce multiple undesired effects that may be related to human health or the environment. Daunting effects may arise due to the improper disposal of unused/expired medicines. Hence, to minimize such harm, there should be adequate knowledge and practice among the population regarding the safe disposal of unused/expired medicines or related pharmaceutical devices. The lack of approved information regarding safe disposal of such substances may invite serious concerns like environmental pollution, which may induce immediate health hazards to the present population and upcoming future generations. There are numerous ways to dispose of, or manage the unused and expired pharmaceutical substances. Sharing the medicines among siblings, friends, and family members are never free from serious health risks. Storing the unused and expired medicines in the home increases the risk of intentional or accidental ingestion of such substances and may create a health emergency. Disposing medicines like household and municipal waste may lead to environmental pollution and harm to humans and animals. The present review finds the multiple unsafe ways of disposal of unutilized medications/tools. Furthermore, it also summarizes the disposal pattern of unutilized medications among the few developed and undeveloped nations.

The Perception and Disposal Practices of Unused And Expired Medicines By Households In an Urban Municipality, Southwest Nigeria: A Comparative Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Medicines are formulations for the prevention and treatment of diseases and symptoms. Pharmaceutical wastes are products of unused, damaged, and expired medicines (UEMs) which pose a disposal challenge globally. Previous studies have shown that environmental disposal of medicines has health and environmental consequences. Hence, this study aims to determine and compare the management of household UEMs in a heterogeneous municipality in southwest Nigeria.Methods: The study was comparative, cross-sectional in design. Multi-stage sampling identified respondents, who are females, experienced in the handling and safekeeping of medicines. The study sample was 404 and recorded a 93% response rate. Data were analysed by IBM-SPSS, version 20. Continuous and categorical variables were presented in tables as mean(±SD), proportions (%) while bar charts highlight salient findings. Differences between LDS and HDS values were determined by 𝝌2(Pα>0.05).Results: 53.4% and 71.2% of respondents respectively had good knowledge and positive attitudes to safe disposal of UEMs. At least 31.5% households do not stock medicines in homes while 1-2 sachets of antimalarial (57.3%), analgesics (52.7%) and antibiotics (49.7%) medicines were inventoried in households and significantly different between low-density (LD) and high-density (HD) settlements. 72.9% and 67.8%; 47.9% and 55.6% respondents in LD and HD settlements respectively disposed of household solid and liquid UEMs in thrash-bins, though 34.9% (LDS) and 16.7% (HDS) disposed of liquid UEMs in the toilet/sink. There were significant differences in medicines abundance and disposal practices between LD and HD settlements for solid and liquid medications. 37.1% of respondents perceived consequences for the current methods of disposing of UEMs, which include accidental ingestion (76.6% vs 26.7%) and land pollution (69.6% vs 36.7%) and water pollution (72.4% vs 32.8%) and drugs toxicity (58.3% vs 32.8%), respectively in LD and HD settlements.Conclusions: Respondents good knowledge and positive attitudes contrasted the poor UEMs disposal practice. Most of the households’ medicines were antimalaria and analgesics and there were disparities in the disposal of solid and liquid medicines, between LD and HD settlements, respectively. Appropriate legislation, compliance monitoring and enforcement are drivers to incentive-driven, sound recovery systems for UEMs to alleviate the consequences of current disposal practices in Nigeria.

Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Unused and Expired Medication Disposal among Patients Visiting Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital

Background. Accumulation of unused and expired medicines at home is a source of environmental hazards and public health problems due to lack of awareness on appropriate medicine disposal methods. Therefore, the study was conducted to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of unused and expired medicine disposal among patients visiting Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital. Methods. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 384 patients who visited Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital outpatient pharmacy from April to June 2019. Convenience sampling was used to recruit the participants, and data was collected by a face-to-face interview using a structured questionnaire. The data were entered and analyzed by using SPSS version 21.0. Descriptive statistics on sample characteristics was computed, and results were presented in the form percentage using table and statements. Results. Out of the 384 respondents included in the study, 205 (53.4%) of them were males. More than half (199 (51.8%)) of the respondents did not correctly knew about medicine waste, and 233 (60.7%) of them did not have any prior information regarding medicine waste disposal instruction. But 351 (91.4%) of the participants correctly responded that inappropriate unused and expired medicine disposal can cause environmental harm. Above half (218 (56.8%)) of the respondents “agreed” about the potential risks related to having unused/expired medicines at home, and 206 (53.6%) of them “strongly agreed” that children are more vulnerable. One hundred fifty-nine respondents had unused/expired medicines in their homes. The most commonly used disposal practice for unused medicines were throwing them in a household trash as reported by 297 (77.3%) followed by flushing unused medications in toilet/sink 152 (39.6%). Throwing them away in household garbage and flushing them in toilet/sink were also the most commonly preferred disposal practice for expired medicines. Conclusion. The majority of the study participants dispose unused and expired medicine in household garbage and toilet/sink. This is against the recommendations of both national and international policies and guidelines on safe and appropriate pharmaceutical waste disposal.

A study on awareness and disposal practices of unused and expired medicines by consumers

Background: Hazards to the environment due to improper drug disposal practices is an issue of concern. The prescription drugs, disposed into trash /sewage, consequently enter into surface waters and contaminate even drinking water. In view of the potential hazards posed due to improper storage and disposal of medicines, evaluation of the awareness of the consumers and educating them about proper disposal methods is required. The aim of present study was to evaluate the awareness and practice of drug disposal among the population.Methods: A cross sectional, observational study was conducted at Rural Health Centre (RHTC) of Kamineni Academy of Medical Sciences and Research Centre with the patients visiting the RHTC as the study subjects. A predesigned questionnaire was used to evaluate the awareness and disposal practices of unused and expired medicines by the respondents.Results: On analysis it was observed that 80 (57%) of the respondents procure medicines from health care centre. A total of 97 (69%) respondents possess unused/leftover medicines at home, 54 (39%) of the respondents mentioned the reason to be due to self discontinuation. Among the class of drugs left unused antibiotics constituted 13%, antipyretics 6%, analgesics 6%. 49% of the respondents dispose unused medicines in domestic trash, 24% flush down toilet/sink. A majority of 121 (86%) opined that awareness must be made created.Conclusions: In present study it was observed that many of the respondents possessed leftover medicines and were unaware of the hazards of improper disposal of medicines. Thus, there is a need for proper educational and regulatory interventions.