Understanding the do’s and don’t for discarding prescription medications

Northwell Health Community Outreach pharmacy resident, Dr. Megan Lam visited Elmont’s Public Library to give tips on antibiotics, when to get rid of expired medications, what to expect from pharmacists, and ways improve one’s adherence to medication.

Dr. Lam explained that antibiotics are great to use once they are taken at the right time. Antibiotics are commonly used to take care of infections caused by bacteria.

“Antibiotics are lifesaving drugs when they are used appropriately wisely,” said Dr. Lam.

Approximately two million people become infected from bacteria that cannot be treated by antibiotics, according to Dr. Lam. She stated that this occurs when your antibiotic becomes resistant to the bacteria, or that there hasn’t been enough research on that particular drug to cure the illness. She reassured that once you take the time to properly use your antibiotics, they are generally effective in treating the bacteria.

Most medications can be used up to one year after the day that it expires. Dr. Lam explained however that people should be mindful of the fact that medications can lose their strength over time once it passes its expiration date.

“Medications do have some efficacy after their expiration date, but there’s less,” said Dr. Lam. “If it’s expired, just throw it out because you don’t know how much of it is actually going to work.”

Kevin Smith, an audience member at Dr. Lam’s conference felt that knowing how long you can hold on to expired medications is important for anyone that’s using prescription drugs.

“I think that was the most pivotal thing about this particular conference,” said Smith.

You can dispose of expired medications by going to your local community center and dropping them off at a station where workers will safely put them away.

“There’s a national drug take-back day,” said Dr. Lam. “You can check in your blue pages and other community resources to see if anywhere here is taking back medications for a day.”

Dr. Lam feels that people underutilize pharmacists for questions and concerns about medications, side effects, and alternatives. She stated that all pharmacists are responsible for answering any questions that people have about their medical needs.

“Pharmacists are the most successful healthcare providers in every single pharmacy,” said Dr. Lam.

During the conference, several of the audience members admitted that they go online to find out information on their medications before contacting their pharmacist.

“I feel like patients don’t know that they can ask their pharmacist about anything. It’s always important that people know to ask questions when they have them and not just to look online for things because sometimes that won’t give you the right answer,” said Dr. Lam.

Kevin Smith also found that communicating with his pharmacist could benefit him and his health concerns.

“One thing that was very important was when she [Dr. Lam] talked about supplemental and vitamins affecting the actual medication,” said Smith. “I think I’m going to alert my pharmacist on some of the supplemental things that I’m taking as well as getting a better understanding of the medicine; when I should take it and how should I feel.”

Dr. Lam’s presentation became an open discussion between she and her small audience as there were several concerns about their medications. Some of the audience members were so intrigued that they wanted to do some additional research of their own.

“I’ll investigate it more,” said John Socolick, a member of the audience who found about the Dr. Lam’s conference in a local ad.

Dr. Lam lastly mentioned that taking your medications as required can be an easy task if you create your own schedule either digitally or on paper.

“You can set daily reminders for yourself with a cell phone alarm or clock alarm, or even sending an email to yourself everyday, said Dr. Lam.

She also said that taking a good habit to develop is to take your medications at the same time everyday, which can make it easier to keep track of what specific medications you have take that day.

Dr. Lam was inspired to have her conference just by knowing that she could make a positive change for people that need to take medications.

“I think that just being around patients and seeing that I can make a difference in how they take their medications and how they feel after taking their medications, it inspired me to do things like this,” Dr. Lam.