Mere presence of pharmacy dropbox seems to make a difference

A new study from researchers at Portland State University (PSU) in Oregon found that the presence of a dropbox at a pharmacy was associated with greater patient awareness of proper drug disposal and pharmacists making recommendations to patients about safe disposal.

Dropboxes located in community pharmacies have been a viable option for patients, but community pharmacies face challenges maintaining these dropboxes, mainly because of overall management, security, and cost. Education about safe disposal methods is also an issue for pharmacists, with many unaware of the implications of different drug disposal options.

PSU researchers found a large variance in responses from pharmacists depending on whether the pharmacy had a dropbox.

At dropbox locations, pharmacists consistently made recommendations to patients about using a dropbox, and sometimes other safe methods, such as taking medications to a police station. They never reported telling patients to throw away or flush medications down the toilet, which can pollute waterways.

However, at locations without dropboxes, pharmacists gave inconsistent recommendations.

“This shows the potential impact of dropbox presence on pharmacist communication, which could affect consumer use of dropboxes if they ask their pharmacist for directions,” said lead study author Amy Ehrhart, a doctoral student in PSU’s Earth, Environment, and Society program.

In the study findings about safe pharmacist recommendations at dropbox locations, 30% of patients said if they needed information about drug disposal, they would ask a pharmacist.

“I think the biggest takeaway for pharmacists is that they can have a positive impact on consumer drug disposal behavior in short interactions,” said Ehrhart. “If they are able to shift messaging away from recommendations to flush and throw drugs in the trash and instead direct consumers to find local drug take-back boxes, which provide a year-round safe disposal option, this has the potential to improve drug disposal practices on a wider scale.”

Ehrhart and colleagues hope the findings spur legislation mandating dropboxes at pharmacies and pressure the pharmaceutical industry to fund them.

Focus group participants singled out cost as a major barrier to dropbox adoption in community pharmacies. They believed the pharmaceutical industry should be responsible for the costs of installing and maintaining dropboxes.

In 2018, Washington became the first state with a funded drug take-back program for pharmacies.

For the full article, please visit www.pharmacytoday.org for the February 2021 issue of Pharmacy Today.   

Loren Bonner, senior editor