Prevalence, Awareness Level and Attitude of Self-Medication Among Student Nurses

Abstract

Self-medication is an alternative for high cost medicines. Inappropriate practice of self-medication wastes resources, increases drug resistance, and poses a major health risk. The goal of this study was to look at nursing students' understanding, attitudes, and behavior about self-medication. This research was conducted among nursing students of mayo hospital of Pakistan in 2021. This survey comprised 301 student nurses in total. The students' knowledge, attitude, and behavior of self-medication were assessed using a three-part research based questionnaire. SPSS software was used to conduct the statistical analysis. According to the results majority of students of first year are with age group 20-23 years old involved in self-medication. Among all year students 94.02% were single and ratio of using self-prescribed medicines (32.89%) 2-3 times in last six months. 95.02% preferred oral route of administration and highest percentage (76.08%) experience no side effects. Results depicted relatively excessive use of antibiotics and other drugs which may lead to drug resistance and other adverse health effects, thus clinical research students should be educated about this. A legislation restricting free access to drugs must also be implemented and enforced by the government both at national and international level