Hiew Sheng Yuan, Low Bee Yean
School of Pharmacy, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Jalan Broga, 43500 Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia.
Explor Res Clin Soc Pharm. 2024 Dec 19;17:100556. doi: 10.1016/j.rcsop.2024.100556. eCollection 2025 Mar.
Active pharmaceutical residues introduced into the environment through irresponsible household disposal of unused and expired medication can damage nature and health. Through medication take-back programmes, these risks can be mitigated. However, healthcare professionals' neglect of their responsibility to ensure proper disposal practices has perpetuated subpar norms among the public.
The objectives of this systematic review were to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of household pharmaceutical waste disposal among healthcare professionals and healthcare professional students as well as to compare their respective levels of knowledge, attitude and practice.
A systematic search of published articles from 2014 to 2023 in three online journal databases (Pubmed, Scopus, and Web of Science) yielded an initial pool of 10,381 records, which was narrowed down by title and abstract screening to 46 relevant publications for full-text examination and the final inclusion of 21 papers for data extraction and synthesis.
The findings revealed deficiencies in academic curricula and medication disposal training, leading to inadequate knowledge and perceptions among healthcare professionals. Many healthcare professionals consider public education about safe medication disposal practices to be outside their job descriptions, leading to infrequent communication of medication disposal methods to their consumers and service users. Additionally, inadequate and inaccessible infrastructure further hinders proper medication disposal practices despite awareness of the consequences.
This study provides insights for policymakers and educators to address these and enhance healthcare professionals' participation in improving safe medication disposal practices. Efforts to strengthen training programmes, incorporate comprehensive education on medication disposal into curricula, and improve infrastructure for safe medication disposal are essential to effectively address the issue of household pharmaceutical waste disposal.
通过家庭不负责任地丢弃未使用和过期药物而进入环境的活性药物残留会损害自然和健康。通过药物回收计划，可以减轻这些风险。然而，医疗保健专业人员忽视其确保正确处置做法的责任，使得公众中的次标准规范长期存在。
本系统评价的目的是评估医疗保健专业人员和医疗保健专业学生对家庭药物废物处置的知识、态度和做法，并比较他们各自的知识、态度和做法水平。
在三个在线期刊数据库（PubMed、Scopus和Web of Science）中对2014年至2023年发表的文章进行系统检索，初步得到10381条记录，通过标题和摘要筛选将其缩小到46篇相关出版物进行全文审查，最终纳入21篇论文进行数据提取和综合。
研究结果揭示了学术课程和药物处置培训方面的不足，导致医疗保健专业人员知识和认知不足。许多医疗保健专业人员认为对公众进行安全药物处置做法的教育不属于他们的工作职责，导致很少向其消费者和服务使用者传达药物处置方法。此外，尽管意识到后果，但基础设施不足且难以获取进一步阻碍了正确的药物处置做法。
本研究为政策制定者和教育工作者提供了见解，以解决这些问题并加强医疗保健专业人员对改善安全药物处置做法的参与。加强培训计划、将药物处置综合教育纳入课程以及改善安全药物处置基础设施的努力对于有效解决家庭药物废物处置问题至关重要。
