Evaluation of the factors that contribute to patient self-medication in outpatient department (OPD) at Kabwohe Health Centre IV

Abstract

Self-medication is a common practice in both rural and urban settings, in older people with chronic illness and young people. Self-medication leads to irrational drug use, drug resistance, and severe disease development. This study seeks to determine the factors that contributes to self-medication among patients at out-patient department at Kabwohe Health Center (HC) IV. It was a cross sectional study using quantitative method of data collection. It was conducted at Kabwohe HC IV located in Sheema District in southwestern Uganda. The study involved patients attending Outpatient Department (OPD) at Kabwohe HC IV. Simple random sampling was used to recruit patients into the study. Microsoft excel was used to analyze data and it was presented in form of frequency distribution tables, pie charts and bar graphs. The study involved 89 participants attending OPD at Kabwohe HC IV, majority of the participants (86.5%) were less than 35 years and females were slightly more than males. The reasons for self-medication include; non-availability of doctors at the health facility as the main factor (95%), knowledge of diagnosis (84%), lack of time (75%) and financial problems (74%). Self-medication remains a challenge at Kabwohe HC IV. Patients should be educated on the advantages and disadvantages of self-medication. The DHO should strengthen policy implementation on the use of drugs to reduce the burden of irrational drug use that increases the cost of purchasing the wasted drugs, and increasing drug resistance. DHO, should also conduct routine clinical audit on patient care to identify missed opportunity in care and develop action plan to address challenges in service delivery. Keywords: Health Centre, Patients, Kabwohe, Outpatient Department and Self-Medication