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.

Catalytic Pyrolysis as a Technology to Dispose of Herbal Medicine Waste

The use of herbal medicine has increased tremendously over the last decades, generating a considerable amount of herbal medicine waste. Pyrolysis is a promising option to dispose of biomass and organic waste such as herbal medicine waste. Herein, an activated carbon-supported Pt catalyst (Pt/AC) and carbon dioxide (CO2) were applied to the pyrolysis of real herbal medicine waste to develop a thermal disposal method to prevent the formation of benzene derivatives that are harmful to the environment and human health. When using the Pt/AC catalyst in the pyrolysis of the herbal medicine waste at 500 °C, the generation of benzyl species was suppressed. This was likely because the Pt catalytic sites accelerate a free radical mechanism that is dominant in the thermal cracking of carbonaceous substances. However, the employment of CO2 (instead of typically used N2) as a pyrolysis medium for the herbal medicine waste pyrolysis did not decrease the concentrations of benzyl compounds contained in the pyrolytic products of the herbal medicine waste. This study might help develop a method to thermally dispose of agricultural biowaste, preventing the formation of harmful chemicals to the environment and human beings.

Measuring antimicrobial use on dairy farms: a longitudinal method comparison study

ABSTRACTAntimicrobial use on UK dairy farms is measured for surveillance purposes and utilizes veterinary sales data as a proxy for use. Two other methods of recording use have been used commonly on-farm: medicine waste bins and farm medicine records. However, none of these methods have been validated to measure antimicrobial use. The objectives of this research are to assess agreement between the 3 most common methods for measuring on-farm antimicrobial use with a pre-determined “gold standard” measure. Antimicrobial use was measured prospectively on 26 UK dairy farms using medicine waste bins into which participants placed all discarded medicine packaging for a 12-month period. At the end of 12 months, farm medicine records and veterinary sales data were obtained retrospectively for participating farms. The systematic difference between the mean on-farm antimicrobial use measured by each of the 3 methods with a gold standard measure was investigated using one-way repeated measures ANOVAs. Reliability and clinical relevance of the agreement between each pair of methods was quantified using the concordance correlation coefficient and the Bland-Altman method, respectively. Veterinary sales data shows excellent reliability for all forms of antimicrobial when compared with the gold standard. Medicine waste bins show moderate to excellent reliability for injectables, poor to good reliability for intramammaries and no agreement for other forms of antimicrobial. Farm medicine records do not show agreement for any form of antimicrobial when compared with the gold standard. The use of veterinary sales data as a proxy for on-farm antimicrobial use in the UK represents excellent statistical reliability and offers a clinically acceptable agreement with a gold standard method when used to measure both injectable antimicrobials and intramammary antimicrobials. These results have policy implications both nationally and internationally and are essential in quantifying the actual impact of agricultural antimicrobial use on both animal and human health.

Pengolahan Limbah Jerami Padi dengan Limbah Jamu Menjadi Pupuk Organik Plus

Tujuan dari program ini ini adalah untuk meningkatkan pengetahuan dan ketrampilan khalayak sasaran tentang pengolahan jerami dengan limbah jamu secara praktis. Dengan kegiatan ini kelompok tani dihimbau dapat memanfaatkan limbah jerami yang melimpah dan kurang di daya gunakan sehingga dapat memenuhi kebutuhan pupuk organik dan kebutuhan unsur hara tanaman terpenuhi. Pengabdian pada masyarakat dilaksanakan mulai bulan Juli sampai Oktober 2011 di Kelurahan Gedong, Kecamatan / Kabupaten Karanganyar. Bentuk kegiatan pengabdian pada masyarakat yaitu memberi penyuluhan (ceramah dan tanya jawab ) dan demonstrasi pembuatan pupuk jerami dengan limbah jamu. Sasaran kegiatan adalah kelompok tani padi sawah di Kelurahan Gedong, Kecamatan / Kabupaten Karanganyar. Kegiatan pengabdian kepada masyarakat yang telah dilakukan menyebabkan adanya peningkatan pengetahuan peserta tentang pembuatan pupuk organik dari jerami dengan limbah jamu sebesar 1,61 % dan peningkatan ketrampilan tentang pembuatan pupuk organik jerami dengan limbah jamu sebesar 3,80 %. Presentasi pemahaman materi meningkat menjadi 156, 57 %. Para peserta merasa puas karena dengan teknologi maju yaitu pengomposan dengan menggunakan limbah jamu menyebabkan jerami dapat difermentasi (terurai) lebih cepat dan praktis, sehingga pupuk organik dari jerami dapat segera dimanfaatkan pada periode tanam berikutnya. Kata kunci: limbah jerami, limbah jamu, pupuk organik plus AbstractThe purpose of this program is to increase the knowledge and skills of the target audience about processing straw with medicinal waste in a practical manner. With this activity, farmer groups are encouraged to take advantage of the abundant and underutilized straw waste so that they can meet the needs of organic fertilizer and plant nutrient needs are met. Community service is carried out from July to October 2011 in Gedong Village, Karanganyar District / District. The form of community service activities is providing counseling (lectures and questions and answers) and demonstration of making straw fertilizer with herbal medicine waste. The target activity is a group of rice farmers in Gedong Village, Karanganyar District / District. Community service activities that have been carried out have led to an increase in participant's knowledge about making organic fertilizer from straw with medicinal waste by 1.61% and increasing skills about making straw organic fertilizer with herbal medicine waste by 3.80%. Presentation of understanding of the material increased to 156, 57%. The participants were satisfied because with advanced technology that is composting using medicinal waste, straw can be fermented faster and more practically, so that organic fertilizer from straw can be used immediately in the next planting period.

Eliminating medicine waste in a Finnish university hospital — a qualitative study

Background Medicine waste in hospitals leads to severe economic loss. This waste emerges for a number of reasons. Medicines are often ordered in too large quantities, which leads to stock expiring without being dispensed. Wastage can also be a consequence of poor management practices. Technical aids, such as automatic dispensers, have been suggested to reduce waste, but they too have shortcomings. Information systems can arguably contribute to waste reduction, but this area has not been widely researched. In this exploratory case study, we scrutinized the management of medicines waste in a hospital from an information systems perspective and examined how information systems are used to manage the medicine supply chain and medicine waste. Our research case was a Finnish university hospital, its central pharmacy, and, more widely, the medicine supply chain within the hospital. Methods This is a qualitative case study, based on data gathered through interviews and a survey and a review of other information sources, including annual reports and other relevant collateral. The study participants included pharmacy staff members and other hospital staff involved in medicine supply. The interviews were conducted in two rounds, first capturing the main themes and then exploring them further in the later study stages. Results The findings outline a picture of unfit technology and inconsistent and unreliable information. This is compensated for by manual practices and processes that cause an excessive administrative burden and ultimately increased wastage. An infrequent ordering process combined with the lack of recycling practices increase the wastage even more. Conclusion Medicine supply and waste management remain a manual administrative task. Inconsistent information and unfit information systems make this task challenging, and the process relies on the medicine supply staff’s experience and assumptions.