Knowledge, perception and practice of self-medication among premedical and basic science undergraduate medical students

Abstract

Background: Responsible self-medication is an important component of self-care. Medical students are in a unique position as they cannot yet legally prescribe medicines but their knowledge about and exposure to medicines increase as they progress through their course. Xavier University School of Medicine admits students mainly from the United States, Canada and other countries to the undergraduate medical course. Aims and Objectives: The present study was carried out to study the knowledge, perceptions and practice of self-medication among premedical and undergraduate medical students. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted during June and July 2016 using a questionnaire which had been used previously. Knowledge and perceptions were studied by noting the respondents' degree of agreement with a set of 40 statements. The use of selected classes of medicines for selfmedication during the preceding one-year period was studied. The knowledge, perception and total scores were calculated and compared among different subgroups of respondents. Age, gender, nationality and semester of study of the respondents were noted. Results: Eightyfive of the 125 students enrolled (69.1%) participated. The mean knowledge, perception and total scores were 73.45, 62.75 and 136.2 (maximum possible scores were 105, 95 and 200 respectively). There was no significant difference in scores among subgroups of respondents. Analgesics, skin ointments, antipyretics and anti-allergics were commonly used for self-medication. Over half the respondents had used some form of self-medication during the preceding year. Conclusion: The present study provides preliminary information regarding self-medication practices among both premedical and basic science medical students. Further studies on factors influencing and information sources used during selfmedication can be conducted.

Self-medication: Prevalence among Undergraduates in Kathmandu Valley

“…Fever, cough/cold, and aches/pain were the major health problems for which students practiced self-medication in present study. This result was similar with most of the previous studies [9][10][11]13,[15][16][17]19,22].Analgesics and antipyretics have been reported to be the most commonly used drugs without doctor's prescription in the results of our studies and other studies [5,9,11,12,15,17,[22][23][24]. The high intake of these drugs might be due to health problems like fever, headache, cough/cold and menstrual problem among the respondents.…”

“…Concerning the knowledge score, the mean knowledge score was (20.92) in present study. This contradicts with the result of previous studies which was (73.45) and (74.54) conducted on India and western Nepal respectively [5,16].…”

Prevalence and pattern of self-medication among undergraduate students in a medical college of Kolkata

“…4,6 As they reach their final semester, self-medication practice increase with increment in their ability of diagnosis of different clinical conditions and knowledge of the use of drugs. 7 Previously a good amount of researches had been done to address this issue both in India as well as in abroad. 1,3,4,6,7 But the pattern has not still been explored among medical students of Kolkata.…”

“…7 Previously a good amount of researches had been done to address this issue both in India as well as in abroad. 1,3,4,6,7 But the pattern has not still been explored among medical students of Kolkata. With this background, the current study had been taken up to estimate the prevalence of self-medication and also to find out the existing knowledge, attitude and pattern of practice regarding the same among the undergraduate medical students of ESIC Medical College, Joka, Kolkata.…”

Prevalence, knowledge, attitude and practice regarding self-medication among medical, dental and paramedical students in a tertiary care hospital

“…All these factors may increase their knowledge as well their confidence level in Pharmacology. 18 This might encourage them to indulge in self-medication.…”