Self medication amongst general outpatients in a Nigerian community hospital

Abstract

Aim:This study was designed to determine the proportion of general out patients who practice self medication, the drugs employed and the reasons for resorting to self medication.Methodology:This study was conducted between June and December, 2007 at the General Outpatient Clinic of the Federal Medical Centre, Owo, Ondo State, Nigeria. Two hundred consenting respondents were selected by simple random sampling and interviewed with the aid of semi structured questionnaire by the authors with three assistants. Information regarding their bio-data, history of self medication, drugs used and the reasons for resorting to self medication were obtained.Results:Majority of the respondents (85%) admitted to self medication while the remaining proportion (15%) did not practice it. Drugs utilized could be single, usually analgesics (26.5%) and anti-malaria (15.9%) or in combinations, usually antimalaria-analgesics (22.4%), antimalariaanalgesic- antibiotic (15.3%) and antibiotic-analgesic (10.0%). The reasons cited by respondents for self medication were their perception of their complaints been minor enough to be amenable to self medication (54.7%) and financial constraint (22.4%).Conclusion:Majority of the respondents practiced self medication using an array of drugs like analgesics, anti-malaria and antibiotics used either singly or in combination. The main reasons identified for self medication were that the ailments were minor and financial constraint.

Appraisal of the practice of ocular self-medication in Cape Coast Metropolis, Ghana

“…Such assumptions for self-medication have been cited. 4,6 This is a dangerous assumption as minor ailments that could be managed by a health professional could easily be mismanaged through self-medication. Financial constraint, experience from previous ocular episode, quick relief, longer waiting time at health facilities, lack of trust in medical services, advice from neighbours, and distance to health facilities are other reasons for which ocular self-medication was practiced.…”

“…[3][4][5] The practice of self-treatment is a vital part of local medical traditions of African people, where laypeople are used to taking treatment into their own hands on regular basis. 6 In various situations, familiar illnesses are dealt with by common people (with no medical background) on their own. It is only when the illness shift towards chronicity that people seek expert advice, be it from a local healer or a biomedical experts.…”

Use of over the counter drugs in urban and rural populations of Mandya district: a cross-sectional study

“…[13][14][15] The most important reason for increase in trend of selfmedication is easy availability of all categories of medicines, OTC, prescriptions only or even schedule X drugs without prescription. It is understandable that a significant proportion of the respondents in our study used analgesics either alone or in combination with other drugs without prescription as common analgesics can be bought without prescription in the community.…”

Self Medication, Drug Dependency and Self-Managed Health Care - A Review

“…For instance, Afolabi in a study of market women in a suburban community of Lagos, Nigeria reported 95-98% 24 ; Omolase et al established that 79% of ophthalmic patients 25 and 85% of patients in the general out patients clinic 26 22 respectively engaged in self medication without prescription or medical advice. However, other studies revealed a much lower prevalence for self-medication.…”

“…People who self medicated reported taking one or several medications and more often one or two medications were involved 20,26,33,116 . Individuals sometimes self administer medications via drug identification.…”