Practice of self-medication among medical students in a region of northern state of India
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18203/2319-2003.ijbcp20190652Keywords:
Awareness, Attitude, Medical students, Self-medicationAbstract
Background: Self-medication usually leads to irrational drug utilization pattern leading to various issues like economic burden, incomplete treatment and antibiotic resistance. Self-medication is a common practice in developing countries and prevalent among medical students, influencing their future decision making as medical professional. The current study was carried out to determine the prevalence of self-medication among medical students and their attitude towards the same.
Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire based study was conducted in a tertiary care teaching hospital from July 2015 to Oct 2015. Structured and validated questions were used to collect information about knowledge, attitude and practice of self-medication among undergraduate medical students. The study included total of 328 participants. Data were collected from each participant and analyzed statistically by using SPSS version 20 for count and percentages.
Results: A total of 328 subjects studying at a medical school were assessed regarding their practice, attitude and perception of self-medication behavior. Out of total recruited subjects, 53% were males and 47% were females. The prevalence of self-medication among recruited subjects was 89.9%. Symptoms like fever, Headache and weakness were the most common reasons of self-medication. The most commonly used drugs were antipyretic, analgesics (81.7%), antibiotics (51.2%). Approximately 15% subjects were not aware about the completion of the course of antibiotic treatment. Subjects obtained information and procured drugs from their family members, friends and pharmacist and the reasons for this were cited as lack of time, minor ailments and quick relief. Only 32.6% students opined that self-medication should be encouraged in future.
Conclusions: Current study reveals that practice of self-medication is highly prevalent among medical students without adequate knowledge of drugs used. Students should be educated regarding advantages and disadvantages of self-medication.
Metrics
References
Krishna J, Babu GC, Rajesh DR. An evaluation of self-medication among undergraduate medical students of a rural medical school from western Uttar Pradesh. IAIM. 2015;2(6):116-22.
World Health Organization. Role of the pharmacist in support of the WHO Revised Drug Strategy. World Health Assembly Resolution; 1994. 47.12.
Joint Statement by the International Pharmaceutical Federation and The World Self-Medication Industry. Responsible Self-Medication, 1998. Available at: http://www.fip.org/www/uploads/database_file.php?id=241andtable_id.
Greenhalgh T. Drug prescription and self-medication in India: An exploratory survey. Soc Sci Med. 1987;25:307-18.
Deshpande SG, Tiwari R. Self-medication: A growing concern. Indian J Med Sci. 1997;51:93-6.
Hughes CM, McElnay JC, Fleming GF. Benefits and risks of self-medication. Drug Saf. 2001;24:1027-37.
World Health Organization. Regional Strategy on Prevention and Containment of Antimicrobial Resistance, 2010-2015. http://www.searo.who.int/entity/antimicrobial_resistance/BCT_hlm-407.pdf.
Ganguly NK, Arora NK, Chandy SJ, Fairoze MN, Gill JP, Gupta U, et al. Global antibiotic resistance partnership (GARP): India Working Group. Rationalizing antibiotic use to limit antibiotic resistance in India. Indian J Med Res. 2011;134:281-94.
Zafar SN, Reema S, Sana W, Akbar JZ, Talha V, Mahrine S, et al. Self medication amongst university students of Karachi: Prevalence, knowledge and attitudes. J Pak Med Assoc. 2008;58:214-17.
Banerjee I, Bhadury T. Self-medication practice among undergraduate medical students in a tertiary care medical college. West Bengal J Postgrad Med. 2012;58(2):127-31.
Sontakke SD, Bajait CS, Pimpalkhute SA, Jaiswal KM, Jaiswal SR. Comparative study of evaluation of self-medication practices in first and third year medical students. Int J Biol Med Res. 2011;2(2):561-64.
Badiger S, Kundapur R, Jain A, Kumar A, Pattanshetty S, et al. Self-medication patterns among medical students in South India. Australas Med J. 2012;5(4):217-20.
Martins AP, Miranda Ada C, Mendes Z, Soares MA, Ferreira P, Nogueira A. Self-medication in a Portuguese urban population: a prevalence study. Pharmacoepidemiol. Drug Saf. 2002;11(5):409-14.
Baig S. Self medication practices. Prof Med J. 2012;19(4):513-21.
James H, Handu SS, Al Khaja KA, Otoom S, Sequeira RP. Evaluation of the knowledge, attitude and practice of self-medication among first-year medical students. Med Princ Pract. 2006;15:270-5.
Sawalha AF. Assessment of self-medication practice among university students in palestine: Therapeutic and toxicity implications. Islam Univ J. 2007;15:67-82.
Souza LA, da Silva CD, Ferraz GC, Sousa FA, Pereira LV. The prevalence and characterization of self-medication for obtaining pain relief among undergraduate nursing students. Rev Lat Am Enfermagem. 2011;19:245-51.
Nandha R, Chhabra MK. Prevalence and clinical characteristics of headache in dental students of tertiary care teaching dental hospital in Northern India. Int J Basic Clin Pharmacol. 2011;2:51-5.
Pandya RN, Jhaveri KS, Vyas FI, Patel VJ. Prevalence, pattern and perceptions of self-medication in medical students. Int J Basic Clin Pharmacol. 2013;2:275-80.
Patel PM, Prajapati AK, Ganguly B, Gajjar BM. Study on impact of Pharmacology teaching on knowledge, attitude and practice on self-medication among medical students. Int J Med Sci Pub Heal. 2013;2:181-6.
Badiger S, Kundapur R, Jain A, Kumar A, Patanashetty S, Thakolkaran N, et al. Self-medication patterns among medical students in South India. Australas Med J. 2012;5:217-20.
Abay SM, Amelo W. Assessment of self-medication practices among medical, pharmacy, and health science students in Gondar University, Ethiopia. J Young Pharm. 2010;2:306-10.
Hooper C, Meakin R, Jones M. Where students go when they are ill: How medical students access health care. Med Educ. 2005;39:588-93.