ANALYSES OF THE WAY OF DISCARD THE MEDICINES BY PATIENTS OF A UNIT OF HEALTH AT THE CITY OF PORTO ALEGRE/RS

Abstract

In Brazil, there is not regulation about the discard of medicines by users. Therefore, a questionnaire was applied to users of the Unit of Health Parque dos Maias (USPM) of the Hospital Group Conceição (GHC), localized at the city of Porto Alegre/RS, in order to detect the most common way to discard medicines by them. The study included 238 inhabitants, with an acceptable mistake of 5% and a level of confidence of 95%. It was observed that 97,9% of the subjects informed that had medicines at home; 86,6% never received orientation about put medicines out; 60% put out the expired medicines at the common garbage. The chi-square test to the analyzed variables didn’t presented statistically significant association between school education and income levels and the medicines discard way. Thus, actions should be defined to reduce and regulate the medicines discard.