Evaluation of medication disposal behaviors after counseling by a community pharmacist and provision of a home medication disposal kit

To evaluate providing an at-home medication disposal kit on opioid disposal behaviors. Self-report of prior disposal behaviors also was assessed to describe the sample.Pilot study with randomization. Surgery outpatients were counseled on medication disposal by a pharmacist from the outpatient community pharmacy at the bedside and given an informational pamphlet detailing recommended disposal methods. Patients on even-numbered dates also received an at-home medication disposal system, creating a quasi-randomized assignment.Hospital outpatient surgery center.Ambulatory surgery outpatients filling an opioid prescription.Patients were called one month after discharge to answer a structured interview about their disposal behaviors. Responses were recorded. Descriptive statistics were calculated to describe disposal behaviors, and chi-squared and t-tests were used to assess group differences.A total of 45 patients participated, with 24 receiving a disposal packet. Of the 23 patients that had left-over tablets, 8 patients disposed of them. Seven (30.4%) of patients with leftovers disposed of their medication safely as recommended by the pharmacist during counseling. Rates of appropriate disposal were statistically similar. Of the 14 patients who had left-over opioids and received a disposal packet, 5 (35.7%) patients used the provided packet. Of the 9 patients with left-over opioids who did not receive the disposal packet, 2 (22.2%) patients disposed of their left-over opioids appropriately.This pilot provides insight into the implementation of medication disposal services in the ambulatory surgery setting and the potential impact that a community pharmacist can have in promoting safe medication disposal. While the study demonstrated similar rates of disposal, those with the disposal packet exclusively reported using the packet as their method of disposal, suggesting having the packet on-hand simplified decision-making.