Encouraging safe medication disposal through student pharmacist intervention

Objectives: 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. Design: Cross sectional. Setting: Albany, NY, pharmacies during August and September 2009. Participants: 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). Intervention: Nine-question baseline and five-question postintervention anonymous surveys were administered to a convenience sample of store patrons 18 years of age or older. Main outcome measures: 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. Results: 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. Conclusion: Additional public education on safe medication disposal is needed. Student pharmacists produced positive outcomes toward reducing this environmental and potential public health risk.