Self medication among under-graduate students in IGIMS, Patna - An observational & prospective study

Abstract

Inapt medical use is a major problem to ensure effective and safe treatment. Most common health diseases are treated by the people themselves without medical supervision, commonly referred to as self-medication (SM). However, it is also known that responsible SM must be accompanied by relevant health information. It has become a serious problem that raises concerns about misdiagnosis and drug reactions as well. To determine the pattern of SM procedures, to identify common diseases and common drugs used, SM causes and to examine the relationship between the level of medical education and SM practices among undergraduate medical students. A structured and validated questionnaire was used for the study to collect information regarding age, gender, awareness of SM practice, type of drugs self-medicated and source of information. Students were also interviewed to check their knowledge and attitude towards self-medication. Results obtained from this study were presented in tabular form and data were interpreted by using Microsoft Excel 365 software. Out of 387, 365 students (94.32%) students accepted self-medication practice. Most of the self-medicators used the medicines for fever (24.11%) followed by common cold (17.26%) and headache (16.71%). Paracetamol was used by 51.78% of students. Most of the students took self-medications for quick relief and for minor ailments.our study shows that SM is most prevalent in medical students of North India. Schedule H drugs have also been used without a prescription. This highlights the need for improved drug control.