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Drugs are an important aspect of disease prevention and treatment. The process involved in getting rid of drugs that have expired or are no longer relevant is what is referred to as pharmaceutical disposal. At the household level, expired medication is usually discarded in the bin unless it is contraindicated by instructions on the label. On a large scale, guidelines are necessary to ensure correct and safe disposal. Such guidelines exist in California.
Disposal guidelines come in handy for donations since they are highly prone to wastage. This is because the packages may come written in a language that cannot be understood by the recipients. The package may also be delivered when it is almost expired thus limiting utilization. On the other hand, packages with long shelf life may be misused by opportunistic recipients. Also, the destination facility may not have capacity to effectively store the supplies.
Guidelines are therefore very important for management of donation related drugs. Expiry date of these donation may within one year or more from the time of shipment to the donation. Giving out drugs whose shelf life is less than a year is only beneficial to destination areas that have good storage systems.
Methods used to dispose off drugs must not only be affordable but also ensure they do not expose the public to associated risk. The optimal option is incineration at high temperature, usually above one thousand two hundred degrees Celsius. Unfortunately, resources may only be available in the developed world.
It is very important for one to be physically protected when taking part in the process. A number of items may be required depending on the method. For instance, if crushing is being used as one of the techniques, masks are mandatory as a protective measure for the face. Other forms of protection may include boots, overalls, and gloves among others. Before the actual process begins, sorting must first be done.
A method known as land filling is common method of waste disposal in low resource settings. In this technique, waste is disposed off at a given site and left to accumulate. This however poses the risk of pollution to the environment. Apart from that, opportunists may hang around and reclaim harmful drugs such as narcotics. Disposers should therefore consider setting up security if their purpose of successful disposal is to be achieved.
Another form of discarding drugs is immobilization. This can be done through either encapsulation or another process that entails rendering the drugs inert. In encapsulation, drugs are packaged into a container which is then filled up by cement or any other appropriate solid materials. The containers should be inspected for explosives prior to filling them with waste.
Flushing drugs down the toilet is a simple technique of disposing of medicines. This, however, may only be restricted to particular forms such as intravenous fluids and syrups. It is not recommended to discard non biodegradable drugs in sewers as this may cause contamination of the entire treatment process. It is also not advisable to release antineoplastics into water systems as this may kill aquatic animals.
Disposal guidelines come in handy for donations since they are highly prone to wastage. This is because the packages may come written in a language that cannot be understood by the recipients. The package may also be delivered when it is almost expired thus limiting utilization. On the other hand, packages with long shelf life may be misused by opportunistic recipients. Also, the destination facility may not have capacity to effectively store the supplies.
Guidelines are therefore very important for management of donation related drugs. Expiry date of these donation may within one year or more from the time of shipment to the donation. Giving out drugs whose shelf life is less than a year is only beneficial to destination areas that have good storage systems.
Methods used to dispose off drugs must not only be affordable but also ensure they do not expose the public to associated risk. The optimal option is incineration at high temperature, usually above one thousand two hundred degrees Celsius. Unfortunately, resources may only be available in the developed world.
It is very important for one to be physically protected when taking part in the process. A number of items may be required depending on the method. For instance, if crushing is being used as one of the techniques, masks are mandatory as a protective measure for the face. Other forms of protection may include boots, overalls, and gloves among others. Before the actual process begins, sorting must first be done.
A method known as land filling is common method of waste disposal in low resource settings. In this technique, waste is disposed off at a given site and left to accumulate. This however poses the risk of pollution to the environment. Apart from that, opportunists may hang around and reclaim harmful drugs such as narcotics. Disposers should therefore consider setting up security if their purpose of successful disposal is to be achieved.
Another form of discarding drugs is immobilization. This can be done through either encapsulation or another process that entails rendering the drugs inert. In encapsulation, drugs are packaged into a container which is then filled up by cement or any other appropriate solid materials. The containers should be inspected for explosives prior to filling them with waste.
Flushing drugs down the toilet is a simple technique of disposing of medicines. This, however, may only be restricted to particular forms such as intravenous fluids and syrups. It is not recommended to discard non biodegradable drugs in sewers as this may cause contamination of the entire treatment process. It is also not advisable to release antineoplastics into water systems as this may kill aquatic animals.
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