KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF CORRECT DISPOSAL OF EXPIRED MEDICINES BY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN PORTO ALEGRE-RS

AN EDUCATIONAL PROJECT OF UNIVERSITY-COMMUNITY INTERACTION

Abstract

Disposal of medicines is a theme in evolution concerning environmental education, mainly considering the negative effects from disposal in wrong places, like household waste or wastewater system. The present manuscript was developed from a project that works with environment education and health, focusing expired and unused medicines and the importance of their correct disposal, involving high school students in the city of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul. From the exchange of experiences mediated by the presentation and discussion of educational material, 209 high school students, aged between 15 and 19 years old, from October 2018 to January 2020, participated of a descriptive cross-sectional research. The aim was to evaluate the knowledge of students concerning the correct disposal of expired and unused drugs, through the application of a questionnaire. By descriptive analysis of collected information, it was observed that 82% of the students improperly discard expired and unused medicines, with 49% discarding in dry garbage, 24% in organic waste, 6% in the toilet and 3% in the sink. Of those who dispose correctly (18%), 9% of the students return the medicines to the pharmacy and another 9% to the public health centers. Regarding the reduced number of correct disposal actions, environmental education actions that lead to awareness of the problem that irregular disposal can generate, as well as the transformation of this current scenario, are imperative. It is clear the need for strategies to improve the knowledge about the correct disposal of medicines, especially with the young public, which can disseminate the importance of this action, in favor of the environment and society.