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Implications of self-medication among medical students-A dilemma.
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2018
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The study aimed to assess medical undergraduates’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding self‑medication. A cross‑sectional questionnaire survey of 400 medical undergraduates (first–fifth year) from four Abbottabad hospitals was conducted between January and June 2017. Self‑medication was highly prevalent (99 % of participants, 46 % had used it more than twice in the past six months), mainly with over‑the‑counter drugs (98 %), and 95 % of respondents held a positive attitude toward it, with media cited as the primary information source.
To evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practice of self-medication in medical undergraduate students.This cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey was conducted from January to June, 2017, among undergraduate students of Ayub Teaching Hospital, Women Medical College, International Medical College and Frontier Medical College in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The sample comprised students of first, second, third, fourth and fifth professional year. Data was collected using self-generated questionnaire.Of the 400 subjects approached, 300(75%) returned the questionnaire fully completed. Of them, 208 (69.3%) were females and 92(30.66%) were males. The most common age group was 22-25 years 182(60.7%). Self-medication was found to be prevalent among 297(99%) subjects and 139(46.3%) respondents had practised self-medication in the preceding 6 months more than two times. Over-the-counter drugs were commonly used for the self-medication in 295(98.3%) cases. Overall, 285(95%) respondents had a positive attitude towards self-medication. Media was found to be the most common source of information for 93(31%) cases.High prevalence of self-medication was noticed, with over-the-counter drugs being the most commonly used. Proper educational awareness programmes about self-medication can control the issue.