Exploring pharmacists’ perception of medicines waste and how they can help reduce the burden
Authors: Lamb E J , Hardwick O R , Cappelletti A , Ojo E , Rennie T , McGrogan A 
Published: November 2023

Introduction

Medicines waste can occur due to a variety of reasons and lead to financial and environmental implications. Previous studies have investigated how patients manage medicines waste and have identified that the reasons for incorrect disposal could be due to patient convenience, lack of awareness or safety concerns with children1. In this study we have explored the pharmacist's perception of medicine waste to inform future polices that could be introduced to reduce medicines waste.

Aim

To explore the knowledge and views that pharmacists have about medication waste, and the methods that they use to reduce it, to inform how medication waste is managed.

Methods

Following ethical approval, a two-phased study was conducted among pharmacists from various sectors in England, 20 of whom had their independent prescribing qualification. In phase one a questionnaire was developed to explore the perceptions of the pharmacists. This included how much of an impact methods such as deprescribing and the education of patients could have on the reduction of medicines waste. The electronic questionnaire was emailed through local and regional networks such as pharmaceutical committees and affiliates of the university. In the questionnaire we asked respondents if they would like to participate in phase two of the study, which involved an interview to gain in-depth knowledge and further perspective. The interviews were recorded and transcribed and then coded into the four themes by the researchers; causes of waste, barriers preventing the reduction of waste, systems in place to reduce waste and patient education.

Results

When pharmacists were asked how high of a priority reducing waste was in there practice they worked at on a scale of 1 (high priority) to 5 (low priority). It was found that most ranked it to be a low priority, with 12 respondents choosing one and over half (55.9%) choosing 1 or 2, indicating that to pharmacists reducing waste is not currently prioritised in practice. When asked about how often they educate patients on medicine waste disposal, most gave the response either often (32.4%) or sometimes (38.2%) suggesting most patients are not educated about medicine waste disposal. During interviews, the reasons for medicine waste not being a priority was due to time constraints and lack of incentives.

Discussion/Conclusion

Whilst a small scale study only, the findings suggest that whilst pharmacists seem to see medicine waste as a big issue in the UK, they may not see medicine waste as a high priority in practice. This may be due to a lack of incentives and needing more spare time to perform activities to reduce waste in practice. Schemes and incentive programs need to be implemented to encourage pharmacists to reduce medicine waste in practice before pharmacists are likely to actively try and reduce waste. Further research needs to be done to evaluate for possible schemes or incentive programs and the cost-effectiveness of the schemes in terms of money saved and total medicine waste reduction.

References

1. Watkins, S., Barnett, J., Standage, M. et al. Household disposal of pharmaceuticals: attitudes and risk perception in a UK sample. J Mater Cycles Waste Manag 24, 2455–2469 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-022-01494-7