Encouraging safe medication disposal through student pharmacist intervention

To (1) determine the public's current method of medication disposal, (2) identify the public's knowledge of the environmental impact of inappropriate medication disposal, (3) determine whether student-facilitated education improves the public's awareness of safe medication disposal, and (4) determine whether the public recognizes student pharmacists as a public health information resource for issues such as safe disposal of medications.

Cross sectional.

Albany, NY, pharmacies during August and September 2009.

242 patrons at 13 Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Community Pharmacy Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (CPAPPE) sites (2 mass merchandiser, 5 community chain, and 6 grocery store pharmacies).

Nine-question baseline and five-question postintervention anonymous surveys were administered to a convenience sample of store patrons 18 years of age or older.

Medication disposal practices before and after education, beliefs on the environmental importance of inappropriate disposal practices, and perceptions of student pharmacists as sources of information.

Students from CPAPPE sites completed 242 educational interventions. Respondents were primarily women (72%). At baseline, 12.8% of patients disposed of medication appropriately. Respondents frequently flushed medications down the toilet (27.2%) or incorrectly dumped medications in the trash (34.6%). Only 30.9% had received previous advice on safe medication disposal. Posteducation survey results indicated that 80.1% of respondents were willing to change their disposal methods. Increased numbers of respondents viewed inappropriate medication disposal as a moderate to substantial problem (from 57.2% preeducation to 83.9% posteducation). Of participants, 59.7% strongly agreed that student pharmacists were a good resource for information on safe medication disposal.

Additional public education on safe medication disposal is needed. Student pharmacists produced positive outcomes toward reducing this environmental and potential public health risk.