Prevalence and pattern of self-medication among undergraduate students: A comparative study between medical and pharmacy students

Abstract

Background: Self-medication is quite a prevalent public health problem. It can cause serious harm to the person, like adverse drug reactions, toxicity, drug resistance, incomplete cure, drug dependence, etc. Self-medication is associated with incorrect self-diagnosis and inadequate treatment, which can result in disease progression and complications. The primary purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude, and pattern of self-medication practice among undergraduate medical and pharmacy students. Methodology: A questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted in the College of Medicine and College of Pharmacy. The pre-tested, structured questionnaire was used. All medical and pharmacy students were invited to participate in the study by filling in an online study questionnaire. The study questionnaire consists of three parts. The first part includes personal and health status. The second part is related to the past year’s most frequent conditions participants had self-medication. Participants were also asked about their self-medication knowledge and perception. An electronic survey link was sent out via email. Statistical analysis was performed in SPSS 25 software. Results: Self-Medication is more prevalent among medical students (70.59 %) than among pharmacy students (62.3%). The most important condition was a cough, 83% among medical students and 67% of pharmacy students, and a sore throat, 47.1% of medical students and 44.2% of pharmacy students. The most frequent medication used among medical and pharmacy students was analgesic (paracetamol and NSAIDS). Antibiotics (41% medical and 33% pharmacy students) and Vitamin supplements were next utilized. Pharmacy students used more supplements than medical Students (33.8 percent pharmacy versus 13% medical) Conclusion: Self-medication has been found to be very common among medical and pharmacy students in Oman. The student-ts need to be educated about the harms of self-medication and the responsible use of medicine.