Medication returned and patients awareness about medication returned at Ambulatory Care Centre (ACC) Pharmacy Department of Hospital Sultanah Nur Zahirah (HSNZ), Kuala Terengganu

Medicine plays an important role in treating various kinds of diseases and conditions. Although many people know the medicines are valuable, but still, there are many people still do not realise about the high rate of medication waste because of their lack of awareness toward medication return. Objective: the purpose of this study is to evaluate patient’s understanding and awareness and to calculate the total of wastage that contributes to medication return. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out at Ambulatory Care Centre (ACC), out-patient pharmacy at Hospital Sultanah Nur Zahirah. 375 questionnaires were distributed to patients who were randomly selected. The questionnaire consisted of 4 sections to evaluate patient awareness about medication return, reason they returned the medication and kept the unused medication and how they dispose the medication. Result and Discussion: Among 375 respondents, 58.4% of the respondents are aware about medication return while 41.6% of them had no idea about this. Although 89.1% of the respondents know about the medication waste but only 23% of them had returned the medication before. For retrospective study, drugs from cardiovascular pharmacological class recorded the highest percentage among medicines that had been returned in 3 months. Conclusion: As the conclusion, in order to improve public awareness, hospital policies and system must be done to decrease the loss of medication wastage.