Print ISSN: 2393-9079
Online ISSN: 2393-9087
CODEN : IJPPTK
Indian Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology (IJPP) open access, peer-reviewed quarterly journal publishing since 2014 and is published under auspices of the Innovative Education and Scientific Research Foundation (IESRF), aim to uplift researchers, scholars, academicians, and professionals in all academic and scientific disciplines. IESRF is dedicated to the transfer of technology and research by publishing scientific journals, research content, providing professional’s membership, and conducting conferences, seminars, and award programs. With more...Original Article
Author Details :
Volume : 3, Issue : 4, Year : 2016
Article Page : 165-168
Abstract
Introduction: Most of the common health ailments are treated by general population themselves without medical supervision, which is termed as self-medication. There are potential risks of self-medications like adverse drug reaction, disease aggravation, drug dependence, drug resistance etc. The undergraduate medical and dental students have easy access to information from various sources to self-diagnose and self-medicate. So, we conducted the study to assess the practice of self-medication among 2nd year medical and dental students studying at Basaveshwara Medical College & S.J.M. Dental College, Chitradurga.
Materials: This was an observational, cross-sectional study based on a semi-structured, pre-validated questionnaire. Descriptive statistics was used for analysing the data. The result was analysed using the software Microsoft Excel sheet.
Results: The study included 172 students (medical & dental), out of which 57.5% were females and 42.4% were males. 82.5% of participants had practised self-medication at some point in their life. 85% felt that there was no need to consult physician for simple ailments. The source of information for self-medication was pharmacist (61.6%), followed by google & internet (46.5%), senior (32.5%). Most common conditions for which self-medication was practiced included cold (93%), cough (85%), diarrhea (80%). Drugs commonly used for self-medication included Paracetamol (94%), Antacids (59%), Antibiotics (41%).
Conclusions: Our study revealed that there is a high prevalence of self-medication among medical and dental students. We as the healthcare professionals need to raise the awareness regarding the ill effects of self-medication among undergraduates and also stress on various measures to curb its growing trend.
Keywords: Self-medication, Medical, Dental, Questionnaire, Over the counter drug
How to cite : Nagesh Raju G., S.m. M, Dharmaraj B, A cross sectional study on the practise of self-medication among 2nd year medical and dental students. Indian J Pharm Pharmacol 2016;3(4):165-168
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