Knowledge on Pharmaceutical Wastage Management and Factors Influence on It among Pharmacy Personnel at Private Pharmacies in Jaffna Municipality Area, Sri Lanka

Improper pharmaceutical waste management is one of the reasons for environmentalhazards and affects all living organisms in the world. Pharmacy working personnel’sknowledge on pharmaceutical waste management plays important role in the provision ofproper wastage management to secure the ecosystem in the country. The aim of the studywas to assess the knowledge of pharmaceutical wastage management and the influence ofsocio-demographic and work-related factors among personals working at private pharmaciesin Jaffna Municipality Area, Sri Lanka. A descriptive cross-sectional study wasconducted in private pharmacies. Pre-tested and validated self-administeredquestionnaire was used to collect data. The knowledge level of participants wascategorized as good, adequate and poor. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 23.Chi-square test was performed to analyze the variable and 95% confidence interval wasset for the test and results were significant if p-value <0.05. Respondent rate ofpharmacy personnel was 78.71% (n = 122) and most of them were female 59% (n = 72). Themajority of the participants (67.2%, n = 82) were pharmacy assistants. In this study,most participants (76.2%, n = 93) had poor knowledge of pharmaceutical waste management.10.7% (n = 13) had good knowledge and 13.1% (n = 16) had adequate knowledge. Age,marital status, educational level, position in the pharmacy and work experience (p<0.001) had a statistically significant influence on the level of knowledge. Continuouseducation programs should be initiated and periodically conducted among pharmacypersonnel to improve knowledge of pharmaceutical waste management. Existing guidelinesshould be strengthened and monitored for implementation by regulatoryauthorities.