Cross sectional study on self medication practice of analgesics among nursing students

Abstract

Background: Self medication with analgesics is prevalent worldwide among medical students due to easy availability as over the counter drugs. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on nursing students of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Medical College, Bengaluru. A Pre-designed questionnaire was used to collect relevant information on self medication of analgesics. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: A total of 90 students participated in the study. Practice of self-medication was reported by 87.3% nursing students. The most common condition for self-medication was headache (42.86%), followed by dysmenorrhoea (32.38%). Non seriousness of illness (69.4%) was the major reason followed by prior experience (62.6%) for seeking self medication. Most common source of drug information was previous prescription of a physician (61.2%) followed by pharmacist’s advice (46.7%). Among these students, 34.4% were unaware about adverse drug reactions and 51.1% were unaware about drug interactions. Conclusion: The present study indicates that self-medication is widely practiced among nursing students. Consumption of over the counter analgesics can mask the actual diagnosis of the underlying disease. It is also necessary to create awareness among the nursing students regarding the dangers of self medication.