Umar S Hamza^1,2 , Umar I Ibrahim³, Khalifa A Idris², Muhammad A Yalwa⁴, Nasir A Sani^1,2, Mustapha T Idris¹

¹Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Practice, Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria,; ²Symbiosis Institute of Health Sciences, Symbiosis International University, Pune, India,; ³Faculty of Pharmacy, University Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA), Terengganu, Malaysia,; ⁴Department of Pharmaceutical Services, Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano, Nigeria.

For correspondence:-  Umar Hamza   Email: umarpharouq81@gmail.com   Tel:+2347066217360

Received: 29 August 2025        Accepted: 18 April 2026        Published: 30 April 2026

Citation: Hamza US, Ibrahim UI, Idris KA, Yalwa MA, Sani NA, Idris MT. Unused and expired medication disposal knowledge, attitude, and practices among healthcare professionals in Pune, India. Trop J Pharm Res 2026; 25(4):533-542 doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/tjpr.v25i4.10

© 2026 The authors.
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Abstract

Purpose: To assess healthcare professionals' knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward medication disposal. Methods: This study employed a cross-sectional design, with data collected using an online Google form. The survey links containing 20 questions and demographic data were shared with the official WhatsApp groups and email addresses of various eligible participants. The collected data were presented as frequencies and percentages. A score was assigned to all responses, and an average mean score was used to categorize the respondents' knowledge, attitudes, and practices into good, moderate, and poor categories. Results: A total of 233 participants responded to the questionnaire, and the majority were Nurses, 87 (37.3 %). The findings revealed that most respondents had poor knowledge, 95 (40.9 %), and practice, 98 (42.1 %), and the majority, 86 (36.9 %), had good attitudes. Conclusion: The study revealed a significant gap in knowledge and practice among healthcare professionals toward medication disposal.

Keywords: Disposal, Expired medications, Healthcare professionals, Medication disposal, Unused medications, Knowledge, attitude and practice

Impact Factor
Thompson Reuters (ISI): 0.6 (2023)
H-5 index (Google Scholar): 49 (2023)