Understanding medication recycling practices in Canadian hospitals.

BACKGROUND: Medication recycling within hospitals has proven financial and possible environmental benefits according to local evaluations done in British Columbia. Despite this, the extent of medication recycling in Canadian hospitals remains unclear in the literature. OBJECTIVE(S): To determine if Canadian hospitals recycle medications, provide an estimate of how much medication is recycled by dosage form, and identify medication recycling barriers through the distribution of a cross-sectional survey. METHODS: A nine-question survey was distributed to 171 hospital pharmacy departments across Canada that consented to complete the survey. The survey identified whether sites recycled unused medications, an estimate of how much is recycled based on dosage form, and barriers to recycling. KEY FINDINGS: Of 62 respondents, the majority indicated they do have medication recycling procedures; however, the frequency of recycling is suboptimal (30-50% of medications are not recycled), and not all medication types are always recycled. Individually packaged oral tablets were most often recycled, and oral liquid medications were least often recycled. Many multi-dose medications were not tamper-proofed. Most respondents selected "sanitization/infection control" and "resource constraint" as reasons for not recycling all medications. CONCLUSIONS: Among respondents, the proportion and type of unused medicines that are recycled varied. For sites that did not respond, this might suggest that medication recycling is not a priority. This could represent a missed opportunity to standardize practices and increase medication recycling in hospitals, both of which could represent a meaningful step towards responsible use of medications and reduction of negative impacts on human health and the environment.

Early evaluation of the transition from an analog to an electronic surgical logbook system in Sierra Leone.

BACKGROUND: Surgical logbooks are a commonly used tool for quality assurance of surgical training. Electronic logbooks are increasingly applied in low-resource settings, but there is limited research on their quality. The aim of this study is to evaluate the quality of an app-based surgical e-logbook system shortly after its implementation in a low-income country and to identify potential areas of improvement for the system. METHODS: Entries in the e-logbook system were cross-checked with hospital records and categorized as matched or overreported. Moreover, the hospital records were checked for underreported procedures. Additionally, semi-structured interviews were conducted with users of the e-logbook system. RESULTS: A total of 278 e-logbook database entries and 379 procedures in the hospital records from 14 users were analyzed. Matches were found in the hospital records for 67.3% of the database entries. Moreover, 32.7% of the database entries were overreported and 50.7% of the procedures in the hospital records were underreported. A previous study of an analog surgical logbook system in the same setting estimated that 73.1% of the entries were matches or close matches. Interviews with 12 e-logbook users found overall satisfaction but also identified potential areas of improvement, including the need for more training in the use of the system, modifications to improve user-friendliness, and better access to the necessary technology. CONCLUSIONS: A reliable documentation system is necessary to evaluate the quality of health workforce training. The early evaluation of a surgical e-logbook system in a low-income country showed that the collected data should be approached with caution. The quantitative analysis suggests that the e-logbook system needs to be improved in terms of accuracy. In interviews, users reported that digitalization of the logbook system was a much-needed innovation but also identified important areas of improvement. Recognition of these aspects at an early stage facilitates guidance and adjustment of further implementation and might improve the accuracy of the system.