Condiciones de almacenamiento y desecho de medicamentos en hogares de una población universitaria de Cali, Colombia: Un estudio transversal

The inappropriate use of medicines at home can have negative consequences on health, economy and environment. This misuse can be defined by inadequate storage, use of excessive amount of medi - cine and its improper disposal. The family medicine cabinet tends to store the leftover medication from previous treatments, or medicine that improve and treat those feel sick of common occurrence (1). The antibiotics are among the most common medicines groups store at homes (1, 2), these medicines are the most self-medication, according to a study made with information provide by people from a Colombian University (3). Users report as causes of medicine accumulation at home, not enough health care interest in the individual and family, lack of empathy between physician and patient, and frequent changes in medical treatments (1). In a search ended in June 2012, literature on this topic was not found in the department of Valle del Cauca, for this reason we undertook the present study, which provides information on medicine use at home taking as reference a part of the population at the university. Results are expected to serve as input for strategy planning to promote the appropriate use of medicines and to perform studies involving a larger sample of the population.