Abstract
Self-medication refers to the selection and use of medicines by an individual, without prescription, advice, or monitoring by a qualified health professional, which may cause serious risks and consequences to health, and in some cases, it leads to death. Such practice can occur on its own or even for an indication, and its main purpose is to relieve signs, symptoms, and cure diseases. This habit occurs frequently in our daily lives, not only in Brazil but worldwide. Thus, the present work aims to show how self-medication is frequent and how this practice can harm the health and well-being of the population. This study is a bibliographic review of a qualitative nature, with an exploratory characteristic. Because it is a frequent practice in daily life, the population needs to be aware of the possible risks that self-medication can cause to health, through educational campaigns, lectures and posters. In addition, as it is a recurring theme, it is interesting that studies consider even more deeply the consequences of this practice, such as the difficulties it brings to the treatment against future infections in self-medicating patients.
Highlights
This study is a bibliographic review, of a qualitative nature, with an exploratory characteristic as recommended by Pereira et al (2018). It consists of articles selected through searches in national and international databases, such as National Library of Medicine (PUBMED), Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE), Latin American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences (LILACS), Virtual Health Library (VHL) and Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), in addition to the Google Scholar tool, as well as the Ministry of Health manuals, dissertations and free theses found in full
The World Health Organization (WHO) describes medicine as any substance contained in a pharmaceutical product, used to modify or explore physiological systems or pathological states for the benefit of the individual to whom
Given the numerous reasons that contribute to self-medication, which are extremely linked to the population, it is important to emphasize that this practice can cause serious problems to the individual's health, considering that each organism holds its particularities and that one rule may not apply to everyone, making individual medical assessment as well as qualified and accurate guidance needed
Summary
Self-medication occurs frequently in our daily lives, in Brazil, but worldwide, and refers to the selection and use of medicines by an individual, without prescription, advice or monitoring by a qualified health professional, which may cause serious health risks, consequences and in some cases, even death. Such practice may occur on its own or even by an indication, and its main purpose is to relieve signs and symptoms and to cure diseases (Perassolo & Vieira, 2011; Callau et al, 2018).
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