Self-Medication of Drugs in Nursing Students from Castile and Leon (Spain).

Maria Isabel Galán Andrés,Daniel Fernández García,Inés Casado Verdejo,José Antonio Iglesias Guerra,Valeriana Guijo Blanco

doi:10.3390/ijerph18041498

Abstract

To determine the prevalence of self-medication in nursing students and their related factors, a transversal, descriptive study was performed on a sample of 378 nursing students. A total of 73.8% of the sample declared having used off-prescription drugs during the last month (2.84;2.26–3.58). A total of 28.9% said they did this because they are familiar with the health problem and its pharmacological solution and 25% deemed that it was a mild health problem. Drugs most commonly used off-prescription were analgesics in 88.91% (3.63;2.74–4.80) of occasions. They were mainly recommended by the students’ family (1.31;1.03–1.65) on 58.12% of the cases. Students keep analgesics they take off-prescription in their home first aid kit (4.47;3.28–6.08; p < 0.001). Unlike other studies, 53.2% obtained off-prescription drugs from the home first aid kit (1.13;0.89–1.43; p < 0.001). In addition, they gave advice and recommend drugs they have taken to other people with similar symptoms (1.97;1.59–2.44). A total of 85.72% kept excess drugs after a treatment (6.00;4.50–7.99). Self-medication is related to the storage of unused medicines and giving advice on the use of drugs to other people, among other things. Self-medication of drugs among nursing students is high. Thus, it appears necessary to review the training on rational the use of drugs and responsible self-medication in the discipline’s curriculum.

Highlights

Self-care is the will and capacity of people to take part in an intelligent, autonomous, and informed way in decisions regarding their health
Family members of students are those who most often recommend off prescription drugs, and in turn, students recommend these to third parties
Health professionals are a secondary source of information

Summary

Introduction

Self-care is the will and capacity of people to take part in an intelligent, autonomous, and informed way in decisions regarding their health. Self-care is the patient’s own decision, which entails the use of drugs without healthcare professionals intervening. When an individual decides to use a drug without medical prescription, they take their own idea or that of others as a reference about the product’s efficacy, which is related to prior experiences, reading an information source or the novelty about a drug, among other reasons. The concept of self-medication has evolved in the last few years. Self-prescription is the self-consumption of drugs that require a prescription because of their indications or risks. The user forgoes intervention by a health professional [1]

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