National Drug Take Back Day - April 28, 2018
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a Drug Information Update reminding of National Drug Take Back Day on April 28, 2018 and of their revised drug disposal web page. The revised website contains information for patients and health care providers to help encourage patients to properly get rid of unused, unwanted, or expired prescription medications.
The FDA website reviews several drug disposal options and provides special instructions for patients to consider when disposing of potentially dangerous medications. There is also a user-friendly infographic that can be used to help patients make decisions about their specific disposal needs. The FDA is encouraging everyone, including health care professionals, to help get the message out.
One of the key ways health care providers con contribute to safe drug disposal is to educate patients when prescribing medication. Education should include:
- Provide patients with a list of local drug disposal sites.
- Remind patients that, when medicines are no longer needed, they should be disposed of promptly.
- Remind patients to remove expired, unwanted, or unused medicines from their homes as quickly as possible to help reduce the chance that others may accidentally take or intentionally misuse the unneeded medicine, and to help reduce drugs from entering the environment.
- Reinforce that the value in ‘holding on to’ medicines, especially opioids, is not worth the very real risks they can pose to our children and our nation.
The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) National Rx Takeback Day is April 28, 2018. Follow the link below to access FDA education resources and for a link to the DEA Drug Take Back website, which includes a drug take back site locator. Also included are example polices related to disposal of controlled substances in the home care environment.
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