Abstract

STORAGE OF MEDICINES AND TEMPERATURE CONTROL AT COMMUNITY PHARMACIES

Jovin Prince, Adil Abdul Gafoor Nalakath, Femeena Moochikkoottathil, Safa Mariyam, Akhila K. and Archana P.*

ABSTRACT

Every pharmaceutical product has a unique margin of proper medicine temperature storage; therefore the drugs should be kept within their recommended temperature ranges as recommended in strict guidelines of proper storage. Improper medicine storage in high temperatures can cause degradation of medicines and consumption of the same could cause harmful effects on the consumers. Our study was an observational study on the Storage of medicines and temperature control of community pharmacies in the district of Thrissur. A total of 65 community pharmacies were randomly selected for the study. The survey made a realization on how the majority of community pharmacies were conducted and how well they are keen to adhere to the standard guidelines on storage and temperature control. It was observed that the majority of pharmacies don't maintain the temperature below 25℃ and practices like temperature monitoring are effortlessly neglected. Most of the pharmacy owners were unaware of maintaining a temperature of less than 25℃ inside the pharmacies. Very few pharmacy owners were monitoring the temperature in their pharmacies. The storage practices in community pharmacies were found to be satisfactory, although storage of medicines in a separate storage area of the main pharmacy was lacking in many pharmacies. A backup power supply was present in most of these pharmacies to overcome the storage compromising electrical shutdowns.

Keywords: Storage, temperature control, temperature monitoring, community pharmacy.