Crucial Guidelines To Consider Regarding Pharmaceutical Disposal
Pharmaceutical products are an important part of disease management.These drugs all have an expiry date beyond which they become toxic rather than therapeutic. Pharmaceutical disposal refers to the process involved in getting rid of drugs that are no longer needed or are expired. To ensure proper disposal by consumers and health institutions, guidelines have made available to all authorities that need them. Most medicines in California can be discarded together with the household trash but only if the label says so.
An example of situations where drugs have to be disposed in large amounts is donations made by companies to regions that have been hit by certain calamities. These disaster stricken areas may lack the necessary resources to store the drugs and sometimes the cargo may arrive close to the date of expiry. Even when they come in early, long before due date, the people on the ground may take advantage of the durability and mismanage the drugs. Other than that, instructions may be written in a foreign language or the medication may not be suitable for those affected.
To avoid wasting donations, a few simple guidelines need to be observed. This includes donating only those drugs that have durability of more than one year from the time of shipment unless the recipient health institutions have the capacity to effectively accommodate the drugs. Donors should also confirm that medication being shipped is actually appropriate for those meant to receive it.
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.
Before anything else, protective equipment must be adorned. Some of these equipment may include overalls, masks, gloves among others. In methods that require pondering capsules or tablets, face masks come in handy to protect the eyes from splashes. Once one is fully protected, sorting begins. Sorting entails separating drugs that may still be portable from those that require disposal.
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.
There are drugs that can simply be flushed down the toilet or sink. Some of this may include intravenous fluids and syrups. An exception to this are antibiotics that are not capable of being biodegraded as they interfere with the treatment process of the sewerage systems. Disposal of anticancer drugs into water systems is also contraindicated as it causes contamination and destruction of aquatic life.
An example of situations where drugs have to be disposed in large amounts is donations made by companies to regions that have been hit by certain calamities. These disaster stricken areas may lack the necessary resources to store the drugs and sometimes the cargo may arrive close to the date of expiry. Even when they come in early, long before due date, the people on the ground may take advantage of the durability and mismanage the drugs. Other than that, instructions may be written in a foreign language or the medication may not be suitable for those affected.
To avoid wasting donations, a few simple guidelines need to be observed. This includes donating only those drugs that have durability of more than one year from the time of shipment unless the recipient health institutions have the capacity to effectively accommodate the drugs. Donors should also confirm that medication being shipped is actually appropriate for those meant to receive it.
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.
Before anything else, protective equipment must be adorned. Some of these equipment may include overalls, masks, gloves among others. In methods that require pondering capsules or tablets, face masks come in handy to protect the eyes from splashes. Once one is fully protected, sorting begins. Sorting entails separating drugs that may still be portable from those that require disposal.
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.
There are drugs that can simply be flushed down the toilet or sink. Some of this may include intravenous fluids and syrups. An exception to this are antibiotics that are not capable of being biodegraded as they interfere with the treatment process of the sewerage systems. Disposal of anticancer drugs into water systems is also contraindicated as it causes contamination and destruction of aquatic life.
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posted by Vittoria @ November 11, 2015
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