Abstract

ASSESSMENT OF SELF MEDICATION PRACTICES AMONG UNDERGRADUATE MEDICAL AND PARAMEDICAL STUDENTS: A CASE OF RURAL MEDICAL SCHOOLS OF TAMIL NADU, INDIA

Phiney Treesa Philip*, Aditya Senan, Sumi Reji, T. R. Ashok Kumar

ABSTRACT

The study was aimed in assessing the magnitude and attitude towards self-medication among undergraduate medical, pharmacy and health science students in Perundurai Medical College Hospital, Erode and various other paramedical colleges of Tamil Nadu. A cross sectional study of one year illness recall was conducted. A questionnaire consisting of demographic questions and questions on illness and medication for the recall period collected from 892 students. Among these, 781 students (87.5%) of students reported the practice of self-medication while 111 students (12.44%) reported against it. Most drugs for self-medication were obtained from the medical stores (70.8%); the most commonly used group of drugs were anti-pyretics (71.95%) and analgesics (63.5%) respectively. Common reported illnesses were fever (70.67%) and headache (53.64%). Mild illness (59.53%) and confidence enough to treat (20.99%) were the top two reported factors for self-medication. Text books (53.43%) were the top reported source of information. Among these, 59.66% of students had the practice of recommending the drugs to others. Very few students were aware of the potential ADRs of self-medications (23.94%), and few of them also reported to have experienced side effects (19.71%). In this study, very few students had the habit of using other system of medicines (18.18%). Although the practice of self-medication is inevitable; drug authorities and health professionals need to educate students about the pros and cons of self-medication.

Keywords: Self-medication, Drugs, Medical students, Awareness.