Research Article
Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Unused and Expired Medication Disposal among Patients Visiting Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital
Table 4
Respondents unused and expired medicine disposal practice in Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Mekelle, Ethiopia, July 2019 (
).
| Questions | Frequency (%) |
| Do you or anyone in your household has medications that are no longer needed? | Yes | 159 (41.4) | No | 225 (58.6) | If yes, what is the reason for having unused medication? () | Improvement in medical condition | 99 (62.3%) | Change of medication by prescriber | 40 (25.2%) | Intolerable side effect | 17 (10.7) | Keeping for future use | 68 (42.8) | What do you do with the unused medicines? | Throw away in household garbage | 297 (77.3) | Flush unused medications in toilet/sink | 152 (39.6) | Keep at home until expired | 43 (11.2) | Burn | 122 (31.8) | Give to friends or relatives | 11 (2.9) | Return back to pharmacy | 10 (2.6) | I do not know what to do | 16 (4.2) | What do you do with the expired medicines? | Throw away in household garbage | 271 (70.6) | Flush unused medications in toilet/sink | 155 (40.4) | Keep at home | 14 (3.6) | Burn | 126 (32.8) | Give to friends or relatives | 10 (2.6) | Return back to pharmacy | 7 (1.8) | I do not know what to do | 35 (9.1) | Do you separate unused medicines before disposal? | Yes | 238 (62.0) | No | 146 (38.0) | How do you discard?/way of discarding unused and expired medicines | Crashed before discarding | 55 (14.3) | Diluted with water | 87 (22.7) | As it is | 313 (81.5) | I do not know what to do | 45 (11.7) |
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Multiple response percent might exceed 100. |