Logística reversa de medicamentos no Município de Pombal - PB.

Abstract

The inadequate disposal of drug waste is a factor that is becoming increasingly worrying for society, as it causes several types of harmful impacts on health and the environment. Considering the relevance of this worldwide problem, this study is a field research directed to the pharmaceutical commercial sector of the city of Pombal - PB, whose main objective is to investigate the practice of reverse logistics in this sector. For this, different questionnaires were applied to two groups of individuals directly involved in the problem of drug disposal, which are pharmacists and consumers. As for the first group, a census was carried out with the 15drugstores there are in the city, and in the second group, the probabilistic sampling method indicated by Neto (2011) was used, resulting in the application of the survey to the number of 350 consumers chosen at random. Through the application of the questionnaire, it was verified that the majority belonging to the two groups evaluated is aware of the negative impacts caused by the improper practice of drug disposal, however, only those who work in the drugstores (60%) stated to send the residues of medicines to their correct destination, which is incineration, unlike consumers, since the majority (88%) stated that the waste is destined to domestic waste, which is clearly incorrect. It was concluded that although some answers have a positive result, the city still has much to improve regarding the practice of reverse logistics of medicines practiced by its inhabitants. In this way it is not enough to understand the negative impacts that this improper practice causes, but rather to look for a way to minimize this problem and to execute it. It is necessary that collection points be implemented, since the city does not yet have them, that there be an incentive on the part of the government to guide pharmacies and consumers about the correct disposal of medicines, besides the necessity also that the orientations of the professionals that act in the pharmacies are really passed on to the consumers.