Medicine Storage Practices Among Selected Rural Health Units (RHUs) in the Province of Zamboanga Del Sur, Philippines
Taslima Manupac | Vieno Gino Cruz
Discipline: Environmental and Public Health
Abstract:
Rural Health Units (RHUs) are frontline facilities of the Philippines’ healthcare
system which are critical for managing essential medicines and medical supplies
necessary for delivering basic healthcare services to rural communities. The
study was conducted to determine the medicine storage practices among RHUs
of District 1 Zamboanga Del Sur, Philippines. This quantitative, cross-sectional
study used a descriptive research design that utilized a validated and pretested
structured questionnaire patterned from Annex 9: Guide to Good Storage
Practices (GSP) of the World Health Organization (WHO). It was administered
face-to-face from June to July 2023 among all consented Healthcare Personnel
(HCP) of all Zamboanga Del Sur District 1 RHUs. Statistical Package for Social
Sciences (SPSS) was used to perform all descriptive statistics for summarizing
practice scores and non-parametric inferential statistics such as independent ttest,
MannWhitney, ANOVA, and Kruskal-Wallis. HCPs assessed RHUs as
“Compliant” on Overall Practice on Medicine Storage (POS, 76.87 ± 9.49)
specifically, Availability of Storage Facilities (PSF, 76.63 ± 9.53) and Storage
Conditions of Medicine (PSC, 82.88 ± 10.48) while “Non-Compliant” on
Availability of Equipment for Storage of Medicine (PES, 71.11 ± 13.06). Most RHUs
was inadequately provided with refrigerator, labeling materials, and calibrated
thermometer. POS, t(68) = 3.302, p = .002, d = .789; PSF, t(68) = 3.041, p = .003, d
= .727; PES, t(68) = 2.537, p = .013, d = .606; and PES , t(68) = 2.962, p = .004, d
= .708, significantly higher on HCPs with formal training. 4 of the 12 RHU were
found “Compliant” on three domains of medicine storage practice. Moreover,
RHUs’ Pharmacy section is managed majority by either Nurse, Nursing Aide,
and/or Midwife. Although most of the RHUs had storage facilities and practiced
the appropriate medicine storage conditions, storage equipment must be
updated to promote Good Storage Practices in maintaining the quality, safety,
and efficacy of medicine for basic healthcare services. Pharmacy training
programs should be strengthened and updated regularly in the RHUs.
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