scholarly journals Self-Medication Practice and Perceptions Among Undergraduate Medical Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

Author(s):  
Shivaraj.B. Patil
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.


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.


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.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Nour Shashaa ◽  
Mohamad Shadi Alkarrash ◽  
Mohammad Nour Kitaz ◽  
Roaa Rhayim ◽  
Mohammed Ismail ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Sudden cardiac arrest considers one of the most leading cause for death in all over the world. It is important for all medical students to train basic life support. This study evaluated the awareness of basic life support among medical students. Methods An electronic questionnaire based cross sectional study was conducted in November 2020 among 2114 medical student in Syria, Iraq and Jordan. We evaluated BLS skills according to mean score. A chi-squared test was used to determine if there were differences between those who attended a basic life support course and those who did not. Results 1656 of the participants (78.3%) stated that they did not attend a basic life support course. There was a significant difference between the participants from different countries where the mean score in Syria, Jordan and Iraq was 18.3, 24.3 and 18.8 respectively (p < 0.05). The participants were divided into 3 level according to total score; low (0–12), moderate (13–24) and high (25–37). In total, 18.3%, 72.8% and 8.9% of participants had high, intermediate and low level respectively. Conclusions The overall knowledge of basic life support among medical students is not adequate and need significant improvements. This study showed that an attendance a basic life support course previously had an effect on knowledge level. Hence, there is an urgent need to apply basic life support courses into the pre-clinical stage at universities.


Author(s):  
Priyanka . ◽  
R K Pal

Introduction: Excessive use of the Internet affects the academic achievements of students. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of Internet addiction and the pattern of Internet use among undergraduate medical students. Method: This analytical cross-sectional study conducted on 177 undergraduate medical students in batch 2016, 2017 and 2018, who were included in this study by convenience sampling method. The study tool was  Young’s Internet Addiction Test containing questions regarding the pattern of Internet use. Data entry and analysis was done by using Microsoft excel and SPSS version 21. Qualitative data were described in terms of frequency and percentage while quantitative data were expressed as mean and standard deviation. Chi square test and multiple linear regression were used to find out the relationship between various factors and Internet Addiction (IA).  The significance level was considered 0.05. Results: The mean age of the participants was 20.3 years (± 1.19), and 62 % of the subjects were males. The prevalence rate of Internet Addiction (IA) was found to be 56.5% and 42.9% of them were in mild and 13.6% were in moderate addiction category. Being male (β= -0.143, p=0.038), staying at a hostel (β= 0.167, p=0.018), not having a time preference for using the Internet (β= -0.174, p=0.012), spending more time on the Internet everyday (β= 0.201, p=0.000), being always online (β= 0.276, p=0.000) and more years of using the Internet (β= 0.175, p=0.015) were significantly related with IA in students. Conclusion: A large proportion of medical students were found to be addicted to the Internet. Therefore, this issue should be addressed immediately.


Author(s):  
Khajan Singh ◽  
Brijesh Kumar ◽  
Mahender Singh ◽  
Preeti .

Background: Antibiotic resistance (ABR) has now become a global health problem. It has significantly increased the mortality and morbidity related to infectious diseases as well as the economic burden due to these infections. There is global consensus on development of new strategies for prevention of antibiotic abuse and hence decreasing the prevalence of ABR. Medical students should be given more education during their undergraduate training regarding antibiotic resistance and appropriate prescribing. Therefore, this study was planned to assess Knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) about antibiotics usage among medical undergraduates.Methods: An observational cross-sectional study was done among 2nd year undergraduate medical students of NC Medical College and Hospital, Israna, Panipat. Data was collected through specifically developed structured questionnaire from 130 students. The data was entered in MS excel 2010 and statistical analysis was done using MS excel 2010 and IBM Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 20.0.0.Results: 93.07% (n=121) of the students were aware that antibiotic resistance has become an important and serious global public health issue. The attitude of the students about antibiotic use and resistance was found to be casual and negligent. 21.53% (n=28) of study participants believed that they should take antibiotics when they have cold to prevent from getting a serious illness. 38.46% (n=50) of students considered taking antibiotics whenever they had fever.Conclusions: This study provides useful information about the knowledge, attitudes and the practices of 2nd year undergraduate medical students about antibiotic resistance and usage.


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