Jordanian pharmacists’ perspectives on medication waste causes, management activities, and re-dispensing potential: a cross-sectional survey

Background Medication wastage is a global concern that is associated with significant impact. As drug experts, pharmacists’ opinions and practices are essential in finding strategies to control waste. Re-dispensing the unused medicines stored at home may be a possible solution that needs to be examined. Objective To characterize Jordanian pharmacists’ perspectives on the causes of medication waste, describe current waste-reduction activities, and assess the feasibility, barriers, and pharmacists’ readiness and willingness toward implementing medication re-dispensing. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among pharmacists working in Jordan using a pre-validated online questionnaire. Results This study recruited 138 pharmacists. Key factors identified as contributing to medication waste included non-adherence (75.4%), patients lack of awareness (60.9%), self-medication (53.6%), polypharmacy (51.4%), and misuse of health insurance (50.7%).While pharmacists reported engaging in activities such as the ability to split packages (73.2%), managing pharmacy stocks (65.2%), and conducting medication reviews (61.6%), many of these activities were limited in actual implementation. More than half of participants (54.3%) believed that implementing a re-dispensing approach in Jordan would be practical, and 69.6% expressed willingness to provide a service for collecting unused medicines in their pharmacies. However, the most significant barrier identified was the lack of clear regulations (76.8%). Conclusion Pharmacists can play a vital role in reducing medication waste by managing unused drugs and leading educational initiatives on proper medication use and disposal. However, the findings indicate that current efforts by Jordanian pharmacists to minimize medicine waste remain suboptimal. The concept of re-dispensing warrants further evaluation from additional perspectives.