Assessment of knowledge about medication disposal among health students

• Autor(a) principal: de Souza, Maria Gabriela
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: Souza , Carlos Adriano Santos, Rodrigues, Romildo Ferreira da Silva, Pastor, Edjane de Jesus Pastor, Silva , Noemi Oliveira, Oliveira, Joyce Sandes, Góis, Alicia Taniara Santos, Almeida, Ana Clara Silva, Sousa, Indiara da Silva
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Brazilian Journal of Implantology and Health Sciences
• Texto Completo: https://bjihs.emnuvens.com.br/bjihs/article/view/407
• topic: Descarte de medicamentos, Farmácia caseira, Estoque de medicamentos, Meio ambiente.

The improper disposal of medicines can cause several problems to the environment, such as the contamination of rivers, lakes, and seas, and it causes damage to animals' and humans’ health. The medicine storage at home is what we call home storage of medication, often the result of leftovers from previous treatments and over-the-counter medicines (OTC), which contributes to increasing the disposal of these inputs incorrectly. Based on this information, health education is essential for future professionals to correctly dispose of these supplies and to be able to guide their patients to do the same. Therefore, the present work aims to evaluate the knowledge about drug disposal among students in the healthcare area. This is a study based on the application of a semi-structured questionnaire adapted from the literature, to evaluate the knowledge of students in the healthcare area about the correct disposal of medicines. After analyzing the object of study, it can be seen that 42% of the students interviewed say they do not know how to dispose of it correctly, 34% say that they discard it correctly, on the other hand, 74% say that they discard the inputs in common trash. Regarding the storage and pharmacological classes, the most used drugs are analgesics and antipyretics (20%), followed by antiallergics (20%) and anti-inflammatory drugs (13%). When asked about knowledge of problems related to improper disposal, the main items described were soil contamination (37%). As a result, it was possible to understand that there is a lack of knowledge about the disposal of medicines, among the students interviewed. It is necessary that training be developed for students and professionals in the health area, and lectures aimed at educating the population on the proper disposal of medicines accumulated in their homes.