School of Social Work, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, 1201 W. University Drive, Edinburg, TX 78539, United States of America.
College of Nursing, University of Houston at Sugar Land, 14000 University Blvd., Sugar Land, TX 77479, United States of America.
Nurse Educ Today. 2021 Dec;107:105143. doi: 10.1016/j.nedt.2021.105143. Epub 2021 Sep 11.
Research has confirmed a lack of knowledge regarding the risks of unused medications including diversion, misuse, or accidental overdose among health care professionals (Abdulmajeed, 2020). Nurses and pharmacists are often who patients interact with the most regarding medications; therefore, early education on proper storage and disposal is vital (Bowen, Rotz, Patterson, & Sen, 2017; Celio, Ninane, Bugnon, & Schneider, 2018).
The study's objective is to explore safe drug storage and disposal knowledge, attitudes, and practices of professional pharmacy (Pharm.D.) and nursing students.
This research is an exploratory cross-sectional study from May to September 2019.
An anonymous online survey was administered to a purposive sample of Pharm.D. and nursing students who were 18 years and older and enrolled in the site's accredited Pharm.D. and nursing programs (N = 210). Responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics.
Common disposal methods reported by students of their personal medications such as pills and liquids included discarding medications with the household trash (range 30% to 55%) and medication disposal products/bag (range 19% to 28%). More than half of the participants (50.4%) had unused prescription medication at home, 35% kept the medication for later use, and almost 20% of the participants reported sharing personal medications with others.
Although the majority of student participants had adequate knowledge of the appropriate methods for safe drug disposal, few reported using them for their own personal medications. The findings suggest there is a disconnect between the participants' knowledge of the appropriate methods of safe drug storage and disposal in a professional setting and their own practices. Further research is needed to explore and address the reasons for this disconnect. Additionally, findings from this research will assist in the development of and/or the improvement of interdisciplinary educational materials among pharmacy and nursing students.
研究已经证实，包括医护人员在内的，很多人对于未使用药物的风险认知不足，包括药物的滥用、误用或意外过量（Abdulmajeed，2020）。护士和药剂师通常是患者在药物方面接触最多的人；因此，尽早对正确的存储和处理方法进行教育至关重要（Bowen、Rotz、Patterson 和 Sen，2017；Celio、Ninane、Bugnon 和 Schneider，2018）。
本研究旨在探索专业药剂学（Pharm.D.）和护理学生关于安全药物存储和处理的知识、态度和实践。
这是一项 2019 年 5 月至 9 月期间进行的探索性横断面研究。
采用在线匿名问卷调查，对 18 岁及以上并参加该地点认可的 Pharm.D.和护理项目的 Pharm.D.和护理学生进行了一项有针对性的抽样调查（N=210）。使用描述性统计方法分析结果。
学生报告的个人药物（如药丸和液体）的常见处理方法包括将药物随生活垃圾丢弃（范围为 30%至 55%）和使用药物处理产品/袋子（范围为 19%至 28%）。超过一半的参与者（50.4%）家中有未使用的处方药，35%的人保留药物以备后用，近 20%的参与者报告与他人分享个人药物。
尽管大多数学生参与者对安全药物处理的适当方法有足够的了解，但很少有人报告将这些方法用于自己的个人药物。研究结果表明，参与者对专业环境中安全药物存储和处理的适当方法的认识与其自身实践之间存在脱节。需要进一步研究以探索和解决这种脱节的原因。此外，这项研究的结果将有助于为药学和护理学生开发和/或改进跨学科教育材料。
