Prevalence of pharmacist knowledge on beyond-use date (BUD) of various non-sterile compounding drugs in Indonesia

In extemporaneous compounding, drugs' stability is indicated by beyond-use date (BUD), which is different from the expiration date determined by manufacturers, hence, pharmacists are required to provide proper BUD information to patients. A recent study showed that BUD knowledge in the North Jakarta community is low, therefore, this study aims to examine the prevalence of Indonesian pharmacists' BUD knowledge regarding various non-sterile dosage forms.

This cross-sectional study involved Indonesian pharmacists' knowledge of serving extemporaneous prescriptions. Recruitment was carried out through the purposive and snow-balling sampling method, while data were obtained by filling out a validated authors' designed questionnaire, with total 34 questions, and collected in September 2021 and then analyzed using the chi-square test.

Among the 221 total respondents, 93.7% had BUD knowledge, while 12.7% responded that BUD and expiration date are similar. Regarding BUD for crushed tablets, dry syrup without preservatives, and ointment without moisture, there were 13.1%, 82.8%, and 29.4% responded rightly, respectively. Furthermore, there was no correlation between BUD knowledge and respondents' characteristics, including health-care workplace and location, as well as gender, and age with p>0.05.

Based on the results, the Indonesian pharmacists were considered to have inadequate BUD knowledge, specifically on crushed tablets and ointment, and this might affect drugs' safety.