Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Disposal of Unused, Unwanted and Expired Medicines among Healthcare Professionals: A Cross-sectional Study at a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital in Eastern Nepal

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Unused, unwanted and expired medicines stored at home pose threats to both health systems and
environments. Healthcare professionals should be aware of the safe and proper disposal methods of such
medicines.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of disposal of unused, unwanted and expired medicines
among healthcare professionals.
METHODS
A web-based cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among faculties and junior residents at B.P.
Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, Nepal using a semi-structured proforma. The data were collected
through Google Form. Descriptive statistics like mean, standard deviation, frequency and percentage were
calculated. Chi-square test and Student’s t test were used for analysis using statistical package for the social
sciences (Version 22.0). P-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Ethical clearance was
obtained from the Institutional Review Committee (IRC/2152/021).

RESULTS
A total of 294 healthcare professionals with mean age 35.37± 6.630 years were participated out of which
231(78.6%) were male and 151 (51.4%) were faculties. Mean knowledge score was higher in faculties
(2.37±1.111) than the junior residents (2.33±1.155) [F (1,293) =0.102, P=0.750]. Junior residents (140 out of
143, 97.9%) had a better attitude than faculties (141 out of 151, 93.3%) regarding the disposal of expired,
unused and unwanted medicines [X2 (1) =3.558, P=0.059]. Junior residents (36 out of 143, 25.1%) also had a
better practice than faculties (24 out of 151, 15.8%) regarding the disposal of expired, unused and unwanted
medicines [X2 (1) =3.895, P=0.048].
CONCLUSION
Majority of the healthcare professionals had positive attitude, poor knowledge and poor practice regarding
disposal of expired, unused and unwanted medicines. There was a high practice of keeping medicines at
home by healthcare professionals. The findings would be useful for planning different strategies to minimize
storage of unused medicines at home and foster the appropriate disposal practice of expired, unused and
unwanted.