scholarly journals The pattern of self-medication practice among undergraduate medical students of tertiary care hospital, Andhra Pradesh, India

Author(s):  
Ramya Rachamanti ◽  
Zaheda Bano

Background: According to World Health Organization resources, Self-medication is selection and use of drugs to treat self-diagnosed disorders or symptoms which includes the usage of non-prescription drugs. It is widely seen among undergraduate students especially in developing countries like India. Our objective of the study is to know the pattern of self-medication practice among undergraduate medicos in medical college attached to tertiary care hospital.Methods: This is a Prospective, cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study conducted among 184 medical students of 5th Semester in pharmacology lecture gallery, Guntur Medical College and Hospital, A.P. India. Among 200 students of 5th semester, 184 students gave the written consent for the study and submitted the given questionnaire. Fourteen questionnaires were incomplete and so the remaining 170 were analysed.Results: Results showed that 126 (74%) respondents practiced self-medication. The main health issues for seeking self-medication were found to be upper respiratory tract infection as reported by 39 students (31%) followed by diarrhea (32 students) (25%), fever (23 students) (18%). Drugs commonly used were analgesics (32%) followed by antibiotics (24%). The reasons for practicing self-medication were mild illness for 66 students (52%) and time-saving for 35 students (28%).Conclusions: Though the self-medication practice is inevitable, drug authorities and health professionals need to educate students about the pros and cons of practicing self-medication.

2020 ◽  
pp. 48-50
Author(s):  
Dipsikha Das ◽  
Kalpana Gohain

Introduction: Self medication is referred to the use of medications to treat self-diagnosed disorders or symptoms without a valid prescription. Self medication practice is seen widely due to availability of over the counter drugs and lack of awareness of adverse drug reactions. Aims and Objectives: To study the knowledge, attitude and practice of self medication for diarrhoea among undergraduate medical students in a tertiary care hospital of Assam. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire based study was carried out among the Undergraduate medical students of Assam Medical College & Hospital, Dibrugarh. The questionnaire was designed to assess the Knowledge, attitude and practice of self-medication for diarrhoea. A total of 130 students were included in the study after obtaining written informed consent from them. The data of the completely filled up questionnaire was analyzed and presented as mean and percentage. Results: Out of 130 students 89.23% practised self-medication for diarrhoea. The most common cause of self medication practice was to save time and source of information was from medical textbooks. The most common source of medicines was medical stores and commonly used drugs for diarrhoea were ORS, Metronidazole, Ofloxacin, probiotics and anti-motility drugs. Only 17.25% of students had awareness of the harmful effects of self medication for diarrhoea. Conclusion: There is high prevalence of self-medication practice to treat diarrhoea among undergraduate medical students which necessitates proper education and awareness regarding the benefits and hazards associated with self medication practice.


Author(s):  
Girija Mani ◽  
Pushpam Mokkaiyan ◽  
Razia Abdul Rasheed

Background: Self-medication is an important public health concern globally. Many factors influence the practice of self-medication among medical students, because of the earlier professional exposure to information about drugs in their curriculum. In view of this, the present study has been designed to assess the practice of self- medication among undergraduate medical students. The objective of the study was to assess self- medication practice among undergraduates and to list out the commonly selected drugs and the conditions.Methods: This questionnaire based, cross- sectional model, was conducted among 150 students of 2nd year MBBS for a period of 3 months. This study was approved by Institutional Ethics Committee and written informed consent was obtained from all the participants.Results: Out of 150 students 71 were male and 79 were female students with an average age of 19.5±1.5. 80% of the candidates practiced self- medication, (48%) for headache, followed by cough and cold (45.83%). The drugs preferred primarily were analgesics (67%), antimicrobials (64%), and the source of information was previous prescription (80%). 70% of the study subjects felt that, no need to visit a doctor for minor illness, 50% of the students anticipated, fear of selecting wrong drugs and adverse effects.Conclusions: The practice of self- medication was highly prevalent among these future health care providers. Hence, this study emphasis an urgent need to strengthen the risk outweighs the benefit and consequences of self- medication practice.


2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-70
Author(s):  
Ankita Singh ◽  
Dhabal Bahadur Dhami ◽  
Ritesh Singh ◽  
Gaurav Jung Shah

Introduction: Self-medication forms an essential part of the self-care. Since medical students are being exposed to the knowledge of diseases and drugs, would assume a special significance to assess the self-medication practice among them. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted from March to April 2018 in 200 preclinical medical students of Nepalgunj Medical College (NGMC), Chisapani. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection and the students who took self-medication within last two months were included. Result: Out of 200 students, 123 (61.5%) were found practicing self-medication. Majority of students (47.97%) were taking Non-steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) for fever (18.70%), headache (17.89%) and abdominal pain (13.01%). 21.14% of students were consuming paracetamol for these health ailments. 44.72% of students reported that they were practicing self-medication because of the mild nature of illness. Conclusion: Students are widely practicing self-medication, particularly NSAIDs group of drugs. In this situation, awareness about the pros and cons of self-medication should be must in the medical students.


Author(s):  
Kusum Kumari ◽  
Manju Gari ◽  
Mary Sunita Toppo ◽  
Ira Anupama Soreng ◽  
Priyanki .

Background: Self-medication is a widely practiced trend in the general Indian population. Among the medical students, self- medication is popular because of awareness about the disease and their treatment. Analgesics are one of the most common drugs used for self-medication. Very few studies are available in Jharkhand regarding this subject. So, the present study aims to delve into the pattern of self-medication practices of analgesics among the 1st and 3rd semester medical students of RIMS, Ranchi, Jharkhand.Methods: A questionnaire based cross sectional study was done in RIMS, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India in March-April 2019 among the undergraduate medical students. The results were expressed as percentage and frequency.Results: Out of total 150 and 142 students in the 1st and 3rd semester respectively, 140 and 130 students practiced self- medication.  Advice from seniors was the biggest source of information in both the groups followed by internet and books. Paracetamol was the most common drug (75%; 60%) and headache was the most common indication (55%; 68%). Quick relief of symptoms was the most common reason for self-medication in both the groups (44%; 48%).Conclusions: In both the groups, the students continued the drug even after experiencing side effects (77%; 60%). Most students were of the view that such practice is not acceptable at all times (75%; 72%).


Author(s):  
Hinaben R. Patel ◽  
Ravikant R. Patel

Background: Self-medication is becoming a most prevalent practice among educated people across the world. In today’s era, internet and media is one of the most important sources for promoting self-medication practice. Medical students are highly influenced with this practice as their future medical preference and the fact that medical students find themselves having more knowledge about drugs this may lead to irrational usage of drugs. Aim and Objectives of the study were conducted to know the 1. Self-medication practices among medical students 2. Common, indications and reasons for self-medication practice. 3.Attitude of medical students towards self-medication practice.Methods: A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was conducted among undergraduate medical students of GMERS Medical College Valsad. The study was carried out in the months of October to December 2017. Medical students of first and final year MBBS participated voluntarily in this study after being briefed in detail about the goals & method of the study.Results: In this study, 91.50% of medical students were practiced self-medication. The common indication for self-medication was fever (76.50%) and cough (75.96%). Acquaintances (67.76%) are main source of information for self-medication. Common reasons they know the medicine (78.14%) and previous exposure (64.48%). 12.5% student perceived self-medication is harmless and 21.0% of medical students advise other to take self-medication.Conclusions: It was concluded that more than half of strength of students practice self-medication for various illnesses; the reason might be the awareness of drugs due to easy accessibility of information through books, internet as well as availability of medicine without prescription from pharmacist. So, essential measure should be taken to reduce the practice of self-medication among students to avoid development of drug dependence, resistance and drug interactions.


Author(s):  
J. Sujit Ralin Daniel ◽  
Prasanand S. ◽  
Suba Joice ◽  
Priscilla Jeba Rani

Background: Self-medication is commonly practiced worldwide and the irrational use of drugs for self-medication is a major cause of concern. The situation is more complex when a number of prescriptions only medicines are used for self-medication which are easily available over the counter through pharmacies without any prescription. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence and practice of self-medication among undergraduate medical students and non-medical students.Methods: This cross-sectional questionnaire based study was carried out among 100 undergraduate students of a tertiary care medical college and 100 undergraduate students of an arts and science college in south India. The respondents were selected from the students who were present on the day of study. A pre-tested, self-assessing questionnaire was used to obtain the information on the prevalence and practice of self-medication.Results: Self-medication was practiced by 96% and 92% of medical and nonmedical students respectively. Overall practice of self-medication was 94%. Majority of females were self-medicating than males, 94% and 90% respectively. The most common symptom leading to self-medication among medical students were cough and common cold compared to headache among nonmedical students. The commonly used medicines for self-medication in both the groups were analgesics, antipyretics, cough suppressants and antibiotics. More number of medical students reported the use of antibiotics to treat infections (70%) which was statistically significant.Conclusions: The prevalence and practice of self-medication was alarming in both groups. The use of antimicrobials was also found to be very high among medical students. It is a need of the hour to create better awareness regarding the use of drugs for self-medication, to implement policies to prevent the dispensing of medicines without any prescription which would remain as the cornerstone for reducing the practice of self-medication.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document