Evaluation of Self Medication Amongst Nursing Students of Bastar Region: A Questionnaire Based Study

Abstract

Self-medication provides low cost alternative for expensive medical management but inappropriate use can cause problems. For Nursing undergraduates such practice has special significance since they have medical knowledge but very superficial and also its application is limited. Hence the present study was planned to evaluate the status of students studying in different years of B.Sc. Nursing. To determine the prevalence, attitude and knowledge of self medication amongst the students of Government Nursing College, Jagdalpur(Chhatisgarh) This questionnaire based study was performed on 142 Nursing students of 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd year aged between17-24 years. Mean age was found to be 20.5 years (2.5years). A prevalidated questionnaire was distributed amongst the participants after explaining the purpose of the study and taking informed consent. The results obtained from this study showed that out of 142 students 120 (84.50 %) students used self medication Commonest source of information for self medication were seniors and colleagues 40(33.33%), and the most common indication for self medication was common cold 41(34.16 %). Dcold Total 49(40.83%) was the most common medication used as self medication .Only 16 (13.33%) students were having the knowledge about content, dose, duration of therapy and adverse drug reaction of the medication that they used. The most common source to obtain medicines for self medication was pharmaceutical store 80 (66.67 %). The findings from this study highlights the striking prevalence of self medication among nursing students, the lack of knowledge and the risks associated with them. We recommend that a global approach must be taken to prevent this problem from escalating which would involve awareness and education regarding the implications of self medication, strategies to prevent the supply of medicines without prescription by pharmacies and strict rules regarding pharmaceutical advertising.