scholarly journals Knowledge, attitude and practice of self medication among the staff-members of Charotar University of Science and Technology

2021 ◽  
pp. 6-10
Author(s):  
Jalpa Suthar ◽  
Jeet Munjani ◽  
Carissa Mendes ◽  
Tatvee Mendha ◽  
Bansari Patel

Self-medication raises its occurrence in many situations in our everyday lives, which is an inappropriate and harmful practice. A research framework was conducted to evaluate the awareness, attitude and practice of self-medication among the CHARUSAT University staff members. Among the staff members, a pre-validated questionnaire was circulated. Using Microsoft Excel, information was gathered and evaluated and the results were represented as numbers and percentages. A total of 136 staff-members voluntarily took part in the study. We found that source of information of the drugs used for self-medication were “previous prescription (77.7%)” and the source of drugs was “medical store (78.8%)”. Only (34.3%) staff-members accepted the fact that they always visited a qualified practitioner whenever they got sick. Most of the staff-members took self-medication for headache (73.5%) followed by cough, cold, sore throat (73.5%) and fever (56.6%). Out of total 136 staff-members, most of them took Analgesics (61.8%) as self-medication followed by lozenges (66.2%). For almost 66.9 % of university staff members, self-medication was common. They provided a reason that “no need to visit a doctor for minor illnesses”. 73.5 % of the population has taken cough and cold preparations as self-medication.

Author(s):  
JALPA SUTHAR ◽  
PATEL SHRINA P ◽  
SOLANKI RIDDHI N

Objectives: Self-medication is becoming very common in our routine life which is an unhealthy and risky practice in a few instances. The present study was carried out to determine the knowledge, attitude, and practice of self-medication among students of Charotar University of Science and Technology (CHARUSAT). Methods: A pre-validated questionnaire was prepared and distributed among the students. Data was collected and analyzed using Microsoft Excel and the results expressed as counts and percentages. Results: A total of 431 students participated voluntarily in the study. The most common reason for taking self-medication was found in 70% of total students. We found that the source of information of the drugs used for self-medication was “previous prescription (57%)” and source of drugs was “medical store (66%).” Only (46%) students accepted the fact that they always visited a qualified practitioner whenever they felt ill. Most of the students took self-medication for headache (82%) followed by cough, cold, and sore throat (62%) and fever (57%). Of total 431 students, most of the students took analgesics (78%) as self-medication followed by lozenges (50%). Conclusion: Self-medication was common in nearly 70% of university students. They provided the reason that “no needs to visit the doctor for minor illness.” Cough and cold preparations were taken by 82% population as self-medication.


Author(s):  
Rabi Bhushan ◽  
Akash Chandra ◽  
Raj Kishore Verma

Background: Self-medication is very common in our day-to-day life which is an unhealthy and risky practice. Present study was done to determine the knowledge, attitude and practice among 3rd professional medical students of Shaheed Nirmal Mahto Medical College and Hospital, Dhanbad.Methods: A questionnaire related to self-medication with consent was prepared and distributed among the students of 3rd professional. Data was collected and analysed the results expressed as counts and percentages.Results: Total 50 students participated in the study for taking self-medication and was no need to visit the doctor for minor illness. In maximum students, source of information of the drugs used for self-medication pharmacological based and learning process in the college. The source of drug was medical store. Most of the students took self-medication for loose motion and headache followed by cough, cold and fever. Out of total 50 students, most of the students took paracetamol tablet as self-medication.Conclusions: This study showed that third professional medical students after they studied pharmacological books, they do not use any wrong medicine as self-medication. High level of awareness of 3rd professional students has minimized self-medication.


Author(s):  
Asish Kumar Biswas ◽  
Gajendra Kumar Singh ◽  
Akash Chandra ◽  
Upendra Kumar ◽  
Amrendra Narayan Mishra

Background: Self-medication is very common in our day to day life which is an unhealthy and risky practice. Present study was done to determine the knowledge, attitude and practice among second professional medical students.Methods: A questionnaire related to self-medication with consent was prepared and distributed among the students of second professional. Data was collected and analysed the results expressed as counts and percentages.Results: Total 100 students participated in the study for taking self-medication and was no need to visit the doctor for minor illness. In maximum students, source of information of the drugs used for self-medication pharmacological based and learning process in the college. The source of drug was medical store. Most of the students took self-medication for loose motion and headache followed by cough, cold and fever. Out of total 100 students most of the students took paracetamol tablet as self-medication.Conclusions: This study showed that second professional medical students after studying pharmacological books they do not use any wrong medicine as self-medication. High level of awareness of second professional students has minimized self medication.


Author(s):  
Seema Gupta ◽  
Kanika Khajuria ◽  
Nusrat K. Bhat ◽  
Vijay Khajuria ◽  
Akanksha Mehra

Background: Inappropriate self-medication is a cause of concern as it can result in wasteful expenditure, prolonged suffering, drug dependence, resistance and increase in morbidity. Self medication assumes significance among medical students as they have knowledge about ailments and medicines. The aim of the study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of self-medication among undergraduate medical students.Methods: The present study was conducted in December 2017 among second professional undergraduate medical students in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, GMC Jammu after obtaining approval from the Institutional Ethics Committee of GMC, Jammu. A total of 123 students who took self-medication during last six months were included and given a questionnaire that included open and close ended questions about self-medication. Data was analysed using Microsoft Excel and presented as number and percentages.Results: Total of 123 second professional undergraduate MBBS students were analysed. 72 (58.53%) were males and 51 (41.46%) were females. 96 (78%) students practised self-medication. Allopathic drugs were most commonly used for self medication (93.5%), followed by Ayurvedic drugs. Fever and headache were common ailments treated with self medication. Common class of drugs used for self medication were antipyretics (66.6%), antibiotics (42.2%). Adverse drug reactions were perceived as the most common disadvantage of self medication. Analysis of source of information revealed that old prescriptions (33%), internet (18%) were the main sources of information. Regarding prevention of self medication, many students perceived that enhancing awareness was the most effective solution (72.3%) followed by stoppage of supply of medicines without prescription(39.8%).Conclusions: Self medication is practised by a majority of students. As responsible self medication is now increasingly being considered as a component of self-care, there is need for review of educational programs especially teaching of rational and judicious use of medicines to the undergraduate medical students.


Author(s):  
Anbarasi Sundararajan ◽  
Ashok Kumar Thangappan

Background: Self medication is the usage of medicines without the advice of the physicians, without proper diagnosis of the illnesses and without any prescription. Medical students are more liable to self medicate themselves due to their partial knowledge and easy availability of drugs. This study was conducted to assess the pattern of self medication in undergraduate medical students. This study was conducted to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of self medication among undergraduate medical students in Kanyakumari government medical college, a teaching institute in South Tamilnadu.Methods: A self-designed questionnaire was given to the undergraduate medical students who were willing to participate in the study. 264 students participated of which 111 were males and 153 were females in the age group of 17-24 yrs. Data were collected. Results were given as percentages and counts.Results: The prevalence of self medication was found to be 85.2% which is very high. Commonest reason was its usefulness in mild illnesses (89.3%). The commonly used group of drugs was antipyretics (98.6%), ointments (44.4%) and antibiotics (41.3%). The commonest source of information was old prescriptions (62.8%). The common ailments were fever (88%) and cough and cold (80.4%). Ironically 72.88% opined that self medication should not be practiced.Conclusions: Increased prevalence of self medication among medical students implies that they are highly exposed to the adverse effects of drugs. Steps should be taken to curtail self medication among medical students by educating and creating awareness among them.


Author(s):  
Monika Mishra

Background: Antibiotics/antimicrobials constitute a major tool against infectious diseases in India especially due to host and environment factors like malnutrition, multiple vitamin deficiencies, overcrowding, illiteracy, poverty, poor sanitary facilities, low standards of personal hygiene and inadequate vector control. Methods: This was a cross-sectional questionnaire based study. It was done to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice regarding antibiotic use and resistance. A pre-validated questionnaire prepared after a review of similar studies and scrutinized by subject experts has been used. Results: 80.00% of respondents agreed that antibiotic resistance is an important and serious public health issue in the hospital. 80.00% were aware that bacteria are not responsible for causing common cold and influenza. Conclusion: In our study, most of the students had good knowledge and were aware of the problem of antimicrobial resistance, but still used antibiotics for self-medication. Keywords: Knowledge, Medical student, Antibiotic.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 25-41
Author(s):  
Thejaswini Karanth ◽  
Someswar Deb ◽  
Lal Ruatpuii Zadeng ◽  
Rajeswari Ramasamy ◽  
Teena Nazeem ◽  
...  

Objective to assess the impact of pharmacist assisted counselling in improving Parental Knowledge, Attitude and Practice [KAP] towards antibiotic use in children. A Prospective, Educational Interventional Study was conducted in 200 subjects, from the randomly chosen communities in Bangalore. The investigators did door to door visit. The primary demographics data of parents and their children were collected using standard Case Report Form (CRF), and the baseline towards antibiotic use in Children was obtained from parents using validated Questionnaire. In the presence of both parents, only one was supposed to answer the Questionnaire. Pharmacist assisted parent centred interventional counselling was provided with the help of Patient Information Leaflet1s (PIL). Follow-up and post interventional KAP assessment were done after two months from the baseline measurement. The changes in parental KAP towards antibiotics use in children were being assessed by comparing the Pretest and Posttest responses using statistical analysis. The knowledge of parents towards antibiotic use in children was medium to good in the baseline KAP assessment; however, in the majority of the participating parents it was not satisfactory in attitude and practice domains. A statistically significant improvement was seen in the KAP of parents towards antibiotic use in children after the pharmacist assisted interventional counselling. Thus, Investigators could bring excellent changes in the knowledge part; whereas the result for changes in the Attitude and Practice was good to medium respectively.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahmoud Hashemzaei ◽  
Mahdi Afshari ◽  
Zahra Koohkan ◽  
Ali Bazi ◽  
Ramin Rezaee ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Self-medication is defined as using medicinal products to treat the disorders or symptoms diagnosed by oneself. Although informed self-medication is one of the ways to reduce health care costs, inappropriate self-treatment can pose various risks including drug side effects, recurrence of symptoms, drug resistance, etc. The purpose of this study was to investigate the knowledge, attitude, and practice of pharmacy and medical students toward self-medication. Methods This study was conducted in Zabol University of Medical Sciences in 2018. Overall, 170 pharmacy and medical students were included. A three-part researcher-made questionnaire was designed to address the students’ knowledge, attitude, and practice. Statistical analysis was performed in SPSS 25 software. Results According to the results, 97 (57.1%) students had carried out self-medication within the past 6 months. Overall, the students self-medicated on average 4.2 ± 2.9 times per year. Self-medication was more common in male students (65.4%, P = 0.043). Cold was the most common ailment treated with self-medication (93.2%), and antibiotics (74.4%) were the most commonly used drugs. The primary information sources used by the students were their previous prescriptions (47.4%). Pharmacy students had a higher level of drug information (P < 0.001). There was a statistically significant association between the level of drug information and the tendency for self-medication (P = 0.005). Disease recurrence was the most common negative complication of self-medication. Conclusion There is a need to educate pharmacy and medical students regarding self-medication and its side effects. The high prevalence of self-medication and the overuse of antibiotics can pose a significant risk of drug resistance.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Astha Srivastava ◽  
Bindiya Gupta ◽  
Vikas Lakha ◽  
Shilpa Singh

Objective: To study the knowledge, attitude and practice of nurses at tertiary centre regarding cervical cancer screening. Material and Methods: Validated questionnaire was circulated amongst staff nurses at tertiary care centre after taking informed consent. Results and Discussion: Cancer of cervix is the most common genital tract malignancy in female and it is ranked second to breast cancer. It has a positive association with HPV infection. Cervical cancer incidence and mortality have declined substantially following introduction of screening programmes. This present study investigated the knowledge, attitude and practice of nurses at GTB Hospital towards cervical cancer risk factors, sign & symptoms and screening as they are important health professionals. In our study, the results showed that 99% of respondents were aware of Pap smear as screening programme and about 60-70% were aware of HPV as positive organism, but most of them never had a Pap smear done before. Majority of them did not know VIA, VILI and colposcopy as screening techniques. Conclusion: It may thus be recommended that institutions should periodically organize seminars and training for health personnel especially the nurses which form a group of professionals that should give health education to women about cervical cancer.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-33
Author(s):  
Mohammed G. Alsaedi ◽  
Bader S. AlQahtani ◽  
Anhar Khalid Zahrani ◽  
Shaima E. Alshareef ◽  
Khlood A. Alzubaidy ◽  
...  

Introduction: Ocular manifestations, such as conjunctivitis, redness, and tearing, were reported in patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Objective: To investigate the level of knowledge, attitude, and practice about the ocular manifestations of COVID-19 and protective eye measures among the general population in the western region of Saudi Arabia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted over two months with 800 participants from the general population and a 39-item online structured validated questionnaire using Google Forms. The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS program version 20 and a P-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results and Discussion: Among the participants (n = 800), 71.9% were females, 50% were highly educated, and 61.8% had moderate incomes. The overall mean total knowledge score was 25.185 ± 3.774, with significant differences regarding age group, gender, and income. Most of the Saudi residents with high monthly incomes, especially females, were knowledgeable regarding the ocular manifestations of COVID-19 (25.0957 ± 3.4311). The average total knowledge, attitude, and practice score was 42.1419 ± 4.833, which was average (medium level), with significant differences regarding age group, gender, and income; a high mean was obtained from the age group >50–60, females, and high-income class. Conclusion: Detailed information about the epidemiology of COVID-19 and an understanding of emerging related health issues, such as ocular manifestations, should be empowered to the public while considering the least knowledgeable groups.


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