Disposal practices, knowledge and attitude of adult patients visiting outpatient pharmacy services towards unused medicines in Debre Tabor, Northwest Ethiopia: a descriptive cross-sectional study.

Objective: Accumulation at home and improper disposal of unused medicines pose a major public health problem. Knowledge and attitude of patients may contribute to accumulation and disposal practice of unused medicines. As there are no such data at the study setting, this study aimed to assess disposal practices, knowledge and attitude of adult patients visiting outpatient pharmacy (OPD) towards unused medicines.

Design: Descriptive cross-sectional design.

Setting: Debre Tabor Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Debre Tabor, Ethiopia.

Participants: Adults who visited OPD services agreed to participate and were selected using systematic random sampling technique from 31 May to 30 June 2022. Data were collected through face-to-face interview using a questionnaire.

Data Analysis: Data were entered and analysed using SPSS V.26.0. Variables of interest were described in frequency and presented in tables.

Results: In total, 257 participants were included in the analysis. Of these, 55.6% were male. The prevalence of unused medicines at home was 47.5%. The majority of respondents (183, 71.2%) knew that improper disposal of unused medicines could cause harm. However, more than half of respondents did not know about medicine waste and had no prior information about medicine disposal instructions. Regarding their attitude, 203 (79%) of respondents 'agreed' that there are potential risks associated with having unused medicines at home, and 163 (63.4%) 'strongly agreed' that children are more vulnerable to the risks associated with unused medicines. The most preferred disposal practice for unused medicines was throwing them in household garbage (108, 42%) followed by flushing down the toilets/sinks (77, 30%).

Conclusion: The majority of participants disposed of unused and expired medicine in household garbage and toilets/sinks. This is in contrast to the recommendations of national and international policies and guidelines for safe and appropriate pharmaceutical waste disposal.