Abstract

Dr. Umayma Asad, Dr. Arslan Ahmad* and Dr. Sidra Ameen

ABSTRACT

Background: This study was undertaken to determine the knowledge, attitude & practice of self-medication among Medical students. Although noticed in common people, self-medication is not expected from undergraduate students of health care system. Complementary and alternative medications are commonly used by MBBS students after having studied pharmacology. It assumes a special significance among medical students as they are the future medical practitioners. This research study discusses the patterns, prevalence and reasons of self-medication among medical students as well as the various common drugs that are adopted by them in the process. Objective: Main purpose of this study was to assess the pattern of self-medication practices and the common type of illnesses for which self-medication has been opted by MBBS students. It aims to identify frequently used drugs, determinants of self-medication, drug information resources, the side effects encountered, the prevalence, attitude and knowledge towards self-medication. Methods: This is an observational study that has been conducted with the help of a cross-sectional questionnaire (mentioning different groups of drugs) among a sample of 220 medical students. Duration of the study was four months i.e. from March 2018 to June 2018. Data was analyzed by SPSS v 14 and other methods were adopted to test the results. Results: It was found that among 220 students, 44% of the students used self-medication for their symptoms in the last one year. Out of those 220 respondents, 97 practiced self-medication. The principal complaints for seeking self-medication included gastroenteritis, fever, headache, urinary tract infections, pharyngitis and common cold as reported by 97 students, followed by other minor ailments 7% (15 respondents). Drugs/ drug groups commonly used for self-medication included OTC analgesics (73.33%), followed by antibiotics (53.33%) , Antihistamines 40%, Sedatives 6.67% and the rest 13.33% included antipyretics, steroids, Beta blockers, Proton Pump inhibitors, cough syrups etc. Among reasons for seeking self-medication, majority of the students, i.e. 85% (187out of 220 students) felt that their illness was mild and used it for the sake of convenience while 15% (33 out of 220) preferred as it is cost-effective.