Abstract

PREVALENCE OF SELF MEDICATION AMONG THE PHARMACY STUDENTS IN GUNTUR: A QUESTIONNAIRE BASED STUDY.

Mounica. Bollu*, Badduri Vasanthi, Pothina. Sushma Chowdary, Dokku. Sri Chaitanya, P. Sharmila Nirojini, Rama Rao. Nadendla.

ABSTRACT

Background: Self-medication is defined as “obtaining and consuming drugs without the advice of a physician either for diagnosis, prescription or surveillance of treatment and now a days practice of self medication has been raising widely. It is an economical choice of treatment for the common self-limiting conditions. Many problems related to this are the adverse drug reactions, drug interactions, wastage, resistance. Objective: The aim of the study was to access the prevalence and pattern of self-medication among the pharmacy students. Results: Among 800 students, approximately 95 % of the students reported the use of the non-prescription drugs/complementary medicine. Most commonly used drugs for self medication are antipyretics( 90.6% ) , cough and co ld(78.4%) ,analgesics& anti-inflammatory(85%) , antibiotics(62%) And the most common reasons for which the self medication was practiced include the fever(89%),body pains (83%), cold(65.3%), cough(74%), headache(67.8%), diarrhoea (42.7%), vomiting (38%), gastric problems(49.5%), Nutritional deficiencies(76%). The mostly preferred dosage form for self medication was tablet and About 83.2% spell the correct name of the medication while they ask for the self medication. 63% of the students said that they will suggest the medicines like antipyretics, analgesics, cold and cough preparations etc for others for the small ailments including fever, pains, cold and cough. About 78.1% of the students feel that the drugs used for self-medication were safe. On asking for the reasons of self-medication about 46% of members prefer the OTC drugs due to economic problems, 73.5% being lack of time to visit the physician, (60.3%)ignorance . When asked about the sources of information 31.7% take medications in consultation with the pharmacist rather than going for formal prescription from the doctors.56.3% take medicines on the advice of friends and family(48%).the trend of self medication has been increased as a result of advertisements and the impact of the media. About 62% prefer medicines by the impact of the media. 72% reported that the dispensers are not providing the counselling.85% are interested in getting the counseling among the study population,88% uses the allopathic medications for treatment of their ailments without prescription or any medical advice. 45.7% followed homeopathic and 32.4% were using ayurvedic medicines. Conclusion: The prevalence of self medication is quite high. In addition to allopathic drugs, a medicine from other systems of medicine was also commonly used for self-medication. Strict legislation regarding the accessibility of these drugs and education of the community on self-medication is essential for effective use of medicines is required. This study depicts the importance of need of promoting the awareness on self medication among the students.

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