Self Medication In University Students

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INTRODUCTION Self-medication is defined as consuming drugs on one’s own initiative without being prescribed by a doctor or a health care professional. In a broader sense, this term also encompasses the irrational reuse of old prescription, Although self-medication, when used carefully, offers rapid relief from symptoms that do not require proper medical consultation, and saves time and money, it has become a serious challenge to health care system because of reckless use of drugs without having proper knowledge about them and their adverse effects. Moreover, unserious attitude towards symptoms such as fever, cold, cough, flu etc. and attempts to treat them with drugs stocked at home, usually aggravate the condition and result in more…show more content…
This study showed a prevalence rate of 76%. According to the authors, their study found no significant difference between the self-medication practices of medical and non-medical students. However, other studies conducted in this regard have shown a significant difference in self-medication practices among both of these educational sectors and also have emphasized upon the relation of knowledge to this…show more content…
It was observed that Pharmacy students practiced self-medication more frequently than Medical and other paramedical students. Explaining this observation the authors stated that, “This could be due to the compositional differences in drug-related courses taken by the different disciplines of Health Sciences. By virtue of the nature of the courses (qualitative and quantitative) they take, Pharmacy students are more likely to have deeper knowledge on medicines and hence practice more self-medications as compared Medical and other Health Sciences students”. There was found an association between the year of the study and self-medication practices. This indicates that as the students’ year of study increases, they take more practical oriented courses and hence their knowledge and understanding about drugs and diseases would increase that help them make right selection of their medicines for self-medication of presumed minor

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