Self-Medication Practices: An unrealised threat in the country- Community Based Survey from a rural area of Puducherry, South
Journal Title: National Journal of Research in Community Medicine - Year 2017, Vol 6, Issue 0
Abstract
Background: Self-medication is the use of non-prescription medicines by people on their own initiative.Pharmacists have a key role to play in providing them with assistance, advice and informationabout medicines. Objectives: To find the prevalence of self-medicationamong rural people in Puducherry; to compare the self-medication practices between Non Communicable Diseases (NCD) and other diseases; to evaluate the role of the pharmacist in self-medication. Methods:A cross sectional study conducted in Bahour village from August to November 2014. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to 112 people after taking informed consent. Chi-square test was used to assess the significance and p< 0.05 considered as statistically significant. Results:The overall prevalence of self-medication was 57.7%. Among self-medication practices, NCD accounts for 23.2% and most common conditions were Diabetes and Hypertension. Myalgia and fever were common in other disease. Commonly purchased NCD drugs were Metformin and Atenolol whereas in other disease Paracetomol and cough syrups were purchased. Significant differences were found in terms of awareness on drug type, frequency of intake and opinion on self-medication between NCD and other diseases (p<0.05). Most common reason stated for practicing self-medication was convenience and lack of time. The role of the pharmacist as a drug provider was more noticeable before obtaining the drug. More than 90% of the participants obtain information about doses, duration of treatments from the pharmacist, however only 30.7% meet pharmacist during adverse-effects. Conclusion: The prevalence and contribution of the pharmacist in self-medication practices is high. Though the practice of self-medication is alarming, improved awareness about the role of pharmacist as a drug consultant/Councellor for cautious use of medicines and periodic health check-ups would increase the treatment compliance of NCD.
Authors and Affiliations
Ramkumar S. , Vijayalakshmi. S, Seetharaman N. , Mujibur Rahman K.
Keywords
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