Perceptions and practices of self-medication among medical students in coastal South India.

Self-medication is a common practice worldwide and the irrational use of drugs is a cause of concern. This study assessed the prevalence of self-medication among the medical students in South India. The data was analysed using SPSS version 11.5. A total of 440 students were included in the study. Th...

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Autores principales: Nithin Kumar, Tanuj Kanchan, Bhaskaran Unnikrishnan, T Rekha, Prasanna Mithra, Vaman Kulkarni, Mohan Kumar Papanna, Ramesh Holla, Surabhi Uppal
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2013
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/064183eb356b4252a2cb9d97e7eb17f6
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Sumario:Self-medication is a common practice worldwide and the irrational use of drugs is a cause of concern. This study assessed the prevalence of self-medication among the medical students in South India. The data was analysed using SPSS version 11.5. A total of 440 students were included in the study. The prevalence of self-medication was 78.6%. A larger number of females were self-medicating (81.2%) than males (75.3%). The majority of the students self-medicated because of the illness being too trivial for consultation (70.5%). Antipyretics were most commonly self-medicated by the participants (74.8%). Only 47% of the participants opined that self-medication was a part of self-care and it needs to be encouraged. 39.3% of the participants perceived that the supply of medicine without prescription by the pharmacist can prevent the growing trend of self-medication. Easy availability and accessibility to health care facilities remains the cornerstone for reducing the practice of self-medication.