Review Article
Year: 2020 | Month: August | Volume: 7 | Issue: 8 | Pages: 122-129
A Review on the Attitude and Practice on Self Medication, Storage and Disposal of Drugs in a Community
Christy T Chacko1, Darshana Prakash2, Hafsa P3, Lallu Joseph4, A.R Shabaraya5
1,2,3,4Pharm.D, Srinivas College of Pharmacy, Mangalore, India
5Principal and Director, Srinivas College of Pharmacy, Mangalore, India
Corresponding Author: Darshana Prakash
ABSTRACT
Self-medication is widely performed in developed and developing countries. In simple words, it is taking medications without consulting a doctor. It is an easy way of diagnosis but inappropriate practices may lead to false diagnosis, adverse drug reactions and drug-drug interactions. Household storage of medicines is for emergency uses, acute or chronic illness. Inappropriate storage and use of medicines at home may have an influence on public health, environment and it also increases the risk of self medication. Drug stability will be affected with improper storage of drug at home. Places like kitchen and bathroom are not suitable for keeping medicines. Drug storage at homes promotes accidental injury and wastage of medicines. Drug disposal is the discarding of drugs. The leftover medicines are not properly disposed by the households. The improper disposal of unused and expired medicines leads to a significant risk to health and environment. Proper methods of by disposal are mandatory for the safety of public health and environment. The ideal method of disposal should ensure the minimal risk for diversion, easy to implement, should not harm to the environment.
Keywords: Self-medication, Storage, Disposal
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