scholarly journals Self-medication among medical students at the Copperbelt University, Zambia: a cross-sectional study

Author(s):  
Owen Banda ◽  
Pipina Anna Vlahakis ◽  
Victor Daka ◽  
Scott Kaba Matafwali
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-159
Author(s):  
Bindu Malla ◽  
Deepti KC

Background: Self-medication of the over-the-counter (OTC) drug is practice all over the world. Although appropriate self-medication practice can address minor illness and is time and cost-effective, it can promote irrational use of medicine; prolong the illness, drug dependency and abuse. Medical students are the future medical practitioners and play the crucial role in counseling the patients. Therefore, the present study was conducted to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of self- medication among undergraduate students. Methods: An institution based descriptive, cross sectional study was conducted after ethical approval was taken from the Institutional ethical committee of Gandaki medical college teaching hospital and research center (GMCTHRC) and data was collected from May to July 2018. Descriptive and correlation analysis were done with the data. The results were expressed in percentages. Results: Among 115 respondents, 60.9 % (70) were female and 39.1% (45) were male students. Majority of respondents (94.8%) believed that instruction on the label of the drugs should be followed and 78.3% respondents agreed that OTC drugs could interact with other prescribed drugs. However, only 53.9% respondents knew that OTC drugs were Group Ga drugs in Nepal. Despite good knowledge and attitude only 37.4% students had good practice in the rational use of the OTC drugs. Moreover, Antipyretic and analgesic drugs were the most commonly used drugs. However, only 36.84% respondents (p<0.05) knew about the correct dose and duration to take the drugs. Conclusions: We concluded that first year medical and dental should be motivated to use their knowledge into practice.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Devarajan Rathish ◽  
Buddhika Wijerathne ◽  
Sandaruwan Bandara ◽  
Susanhitha Piumanthi ◽  
Chamali Senevirathna ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (221) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mukta Singh Bhandari ◽  
Jagdish Chataut

Introduction: Medical students are more prone to suffer from various physiological and psychologicalproblems but rather than seeking for formal health care, they tend to do informal consultation andoften practice self medication. Thus, this study aimed to find out the health seeking behavior ofmedical students. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was done among first and second year medicalstudents of a teaching hospital from September to November 2019 after taking ethical approvalfrom Institutional Review Committe. Total of 235 students were included in the study and selfadministered questionnaire was used. Data entry and analysis was done using Statistical Packagefor Social Sciences version 20.0. Results: Among 235 students who participated in the study, 172 (73%) reported having healthproblems in the last 12 months, and fever and headache were commonly reported by 21 (13%) and 18(50%) students, respectively. Total of 112 (65%) students visited hospital/clinic for health problemsand reason given for not visiting hospital/clinic was 12 (28%) thinking that the problem was minor.University hospital was the most preferred place 189 (80%) during health problem and parents werethe first people for consultation 116 (49%). Mean duration of absenteeism was 2.17±4.1 days and 167(88%) visited hospital more than five times. Conclusions: Health problems were common among students and most of them required multiplehospital visits. Many students seeked for health from hospital/ clinic but informal consultationswere also seen.


2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (225) ◽  
Author(s):  
Namita Kumari Mandal ◽  
Gajendra Prasad Rauniyar ◽  
Dilli Sher Rai ◽  
Dipesh Raj Panday ◽  
Ramayan Kushwaha ◽  
...  

Introduction: Self-medication plays significant role in the development of adverse drug reactions,antibiotic resistance, and masking of underlying diseases. Medical students have some knowledgeabout the use of antibiotics and have a higher chance of irrational and injudicious use. This studyaims to find the prevalence of self-medication practice of antibiotics among medical and dentalundergraduate students. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was done among medical and dental undergraduatestudents from the first year to the fifth year at BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences from 1st June2018 to 30th August 2018. Ethical approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Committee(IRC/1210/018). Whole sampling was done. Data was collected using a self-responding, semistructured questionnaire and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 11.5. Results: In total 558 students, the prevalence of self-medication practice of different antibioticswas 285 (51.1%) within the past year. Among self-medicated students, 152 (53.3%) were males. Thecommon drug self-medicated was Azithromycin 80 (28.1%) and the common medical condition touse non-prescription antibiotics was for treatment of sore throat with runny nose 129 (45.3%). Themain source for obtaining non-prescription antibiotics were retail pharmacies 157 (55.1%). Conclusions: Self-medication with antibiotics was at increasing rate with each succeeding yearsof the medical courses. Medical students should be made aware of the rational use of antibioticsby incorporating appropriate courses in their academic curriculum for more refined practice onantibiotics rather than advancement of theoretical knowledge alone.


JMS SKIMS ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rashmi Kumari ◽  
Kiran Kiran ◽  
Dinesh Kumar ◽  
Rakesh Bahl ◽  
Rajiv Gupta

BACKGROUND: Self-medication is the treatment of common health problems with medicines that are taken an patient's own initiative or on advice of a pharmacist, without professional supervision. It is now becoming a common practice in many countries mainly due to lack of access to health care, easy availability of OTC drugs in market and poor drug regulatory practices. OBJECTIVE: To assess the knowledge and practices of self-medication among medical students. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out among the students of GMC Jammu in August 2011, after faking approval from IEC. A 16-item, open-ended, pretested questionnaire was administered to students. Data was then analysed using SPSS version 12 and results expressed as counts and percentages. RESULTS: A total of 282 students participated in the study, among which 96 were from 1st semester, 88 from 3rd and 98 from 6th semester. Knowledge of self-medication was adequate in 68% of 1st semester, 81 % of 3rd and 87% of 6th semester students.85% of respondents from 1st semester, 79% from 3rd and 78% from 6th practised self-medication. CONCLUSION: Since seniors hod better knowledge of drugs , self medication was practised less as compared tb juniors. There is a need to review educational programs especially clinical pharmacology, focusing on rational use of drugs. JMS 2012;15(2):141-44


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