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. 2018 Aug 17;18(1):1026.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-018-5753-6.

'You don't throw these things out:' an exploration of medicines retention and disposal practices in Australian homes

Fiona Kelly  1 , Sara McMillan  2 , Jean Spinks  3 , Emilie Bettington  3 , Amanda J Wheeler  4   5
Affiliations

'You don't throw these things out:' an exploration of medicines retention and disposal practices in Australian homes

Fiona Kelly et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Consumers most commonly discard unwanted medicines in household rubbish or drains, however, there are global concerns over the extent, environmental impact and health risks. When consumers procure or store medicines for future use, this can impact negatively on quality use of medicines and consumer safety. We sought greater insight into the extent of these practices by exploring the volume and types of medicines in Australian homes, and self-reported practices related to medicine accumulation, use and disposal. This qualitative study formed part of a larger project that included a general population survey on household medicine disposal practices.

Methods: Semi-structured telephone interviews were undertaken with a subset of respondents (n = 166) from the survey. Participants were eligible if they were experienced medicine users, i.e. used five or more prescribed, over the counter, and/or complementary and alternative medicines. Participants were asked to collect and name all medicines in their household; further detail was obtained about medicines used only when required or no longer used, such as expiry dates and quantity remaining. The quantitative data on the number and type of medicines stored at home were analysed descriptively. All interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed.

Results: A total of 2301 medicines were identified as 1424 medicines not in everyday use (unused, unwanted, expired or when required) in 166 households, and 877 regularly used medicines by 119 participants. Medicines were often stored in multiple locations, particularly kitchens. Although accidental ingestion in children and pets and decreased efficacy were recognised health risks, this did not always translate to appropriate storage, usage or disposal practices. Individual risk-benefit assessments were applied to decisions to retain, use or dispose of medicines, including expired medicines.

Conclusions: Inappropriate medicine storage, use, and/or disposal practices raises public health concerns, particularly as there is a free returned medicines scheme available, and that this particular participant group were considered experienced medicine users. Healthcare professionals must act to address consumer misconceptions around the quality use of medicines, including medicine retention, storage and disposal. Future research is warranted to explore consumer practices in this context and confirm these findings in a younger, or healthier population.

Keywords: Medication safety; Medicine disposal; Pharmacist; Quality use of medicines; Unwanted medicines.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Ethics approval was obtained from Griffith University Human Research Ethics Committee (2016/449/GUHREC). Verbal consent was obtained from all interview participants prior to data collection. As per ethics guidelines, verbal consent was considered appropriate because the research involved telephone-based interviews across Australia and it was deemed impractical to exchange a written consent package. A researcher verbally described the project, interview and data management processes including deidentification of data. The researcher answered any participant questions and then read the verbal consent form prior to the interview commencing and audiorecorded participant verbal consent with permission. Participants were offered an information sheet about the study and interview process.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

This article contains the opinions of the authors and does not in any way reflect the views of the Department of Health, the Australian Government or The National Return & Disposal of Unwanted Medicines Limited. The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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