"We throw away an incredible amount of unused medicines": Community pharmacy staff perspectives on environmental responsibility.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Pharmaceutical pollution is an increasing environmental concern. As key actors in the healthcare chain, community pharmacies play an important role in managing pharmaceuticals from an environmental perspective. Although environmental initiatives exist at the corporate level in Sweden, it remains unclear how well these are known to, or implemented by, pharmacy staff.

Objectives

To explore how community pharmacy staff in Sweden perceive their role in reducing pharmaceutical pollution, and identify the opportunities and challenges they face in promoting environmentally friendly use of pharmaceuticals.

Methods

Focus group discussions and individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with pharmacy staff in Sweden between May 2024 and February 2025. All fo

SUBMITTER: Villen J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12510222 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature