SAFE MEDICATION DISPOSAL AT HOME

Abstract

The present study aims to identify the main practices for disposing of medicines in households in Brazil and their main environmental impacts. For this, an integrative review of the literature on the subject was carried out from 2012 to 2022, in databases of several universities through the Google Scholar tool, since in research carried out alone in the PubMed, Scielo and Scopus databases, not returning a significant number of results for the researched period, using the keywords "disposal of medicines at home", "Environmental impacts of disposing of medicines at home", using the google academic platform with a higher return of results, of which 30 studies were selected, after applying inclusion and exclusion criteria. The analyzed studies showed that the household stocks of medicines are kept mainly for self-medication, leftovers from previous treatments and for future uses, the disposal is generally carried out in common waste, generating several impacts to the environment, the main ones being the contamination of soil and water. . In view of the scientific productions raised and analyzed, it is evident the need to develop an adequate program for the management of pharmaceutical waste so that the environmental impacts and the awareness of citizens are properly addressed to avoid the aggravation of this current public health problem.