Self -medication practice among engineering students in an engineering college in North India
Journal Title: The Journal of Phytopharmacology - Year 2013, Vol 2, Issue 4
Abstract
Aims: This study was undertaken to determine the knowledge, attitude & practice of self medication among engineering students of all the years of NIMS Engineering College, Jaipur, Rajasthan. Methods: This study was an anonymous, questionnaire-based, descriptive study. A self-developed, pre-validated questionnaire consisting of both open-ended and close-ended questions was filled by 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th year engineering students. Data was reviewed, organized and summarized as counts and percentages and evaluated using the Chi-square test and p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Out of a total of 346 students, 70.5% were male & 29.4% were females. Their age ranged from 17-27 years. Out of these, 75.7% students had taken self medication with 22.3% being females and 77.86% being males. The commonest indications for self-medication were fever seen in 176(67.1%) of the students followed by, cough/common cold 104(39.69%). 37.4% of the students didn’t feel the need to go to a doctor and this was the most frequent reasons for resorting to self-medication and the main source of self medication was guardians (54.9%). Analgesics were the commonest drugs used (56.5%) followed by antimicrobials (15.6%) with 52% of the students completed the recommended course of antimicrobials. 46.5% students thought that self medication was harmful. Conclusion: The practice of self-medication in our study was common and often inappropriate and this high prevalence is a cause of concern. Education and proper information about the drugs may go a long way in promoting responsible self medication.
Authors and Affiliations
Dr. Rahul Parakh, Dr. Neha Sharma, Dr. Kriti Kothari, Dr. Richa Parakh, Dr. Pradeep Parakh
Keywords
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