A descriptive study of prevalence, pattern and attitude of self-medication among second professional medical students in a tertiary care center.
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Date
2015-05
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Abstract
Background: The implications of self-medication practices are increasingly
recognized around the world as self-medication is a common practice worldwide
and irrational use of drugs is a cause of concern more so among medical students as
they are future medical practitioners. The objective was to determine the prevalence,
attitude, and knowledge of self-medication among second professional medical
students.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among medical students in
February-March 2015. Data were collected through self-administered questionnaire
and expressed as percentage frequency.
Results: Of the 138 students, only 122 filled and returned the questionnaire. The
majority of the students self-medicated because of the illness being too trivial for
consultation (63.1%) or had previous experience of same illness (63.1%), headache
(77.8%), flu/cold and sore throat (58.1%), closely followed by fever (52.4%) were
the main symptoms leading to self-medication. Commonly used medicines were
analgesics (74.6%), headache relievers (71.3%), antibiotics (64%), and antipyretics
(50.8%). A large proportion (42.6%) and 35% used every few months or 2-3 times
per year, respectively.
Conclusion: Our study showed that self-medication is widely practiced among
students, easy availability of medicine probably being the cause. Educating the
students regarding advantages and disadvantages of self-medication is necessary to
create awareness.
Description
Keywords
Self-medication, Medical students, Questionnaire, Prevalence
Citation
Sawhney Vineeta, Bhat Mohammad Younis, Singh Zorawar. A descriptive study of prevalence, pattern and attitude of self-medication among second professional medical students in a tertiary care center. International Journal of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology. 2015 May-Jun; 4(3): 542-546.