ABSTRACT

Background: Self-medication with Over the Counter (OTC) medications is common among medicine and health science students. For safe use of OTC medications, students are expected to have proper knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) towards OTC medications and subsequent adverse drug reactions (ADRs). Improper use of OTC medications might result in health and other drug-related issues. On the other hand, abundant use of OTC cosmetics products among females is alarming due to possible health hazards ranging from allergy to fatal anaphylaxis and toxicity. Objective: The main objective of this study is to evaluate the perceptions and extent of practicing self- medication among undergraduate pharmacy students. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed using a self-administered online questionnaire, which was developed, standardized, and previously used by Kumar et al. (November to December 2023) among undergraduate pharmacy students in the colleges located at Moinabad. The questionnaire consisted of 4 sections: demographic information, knowledge of OTC medicines, attitudes, and practice. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis distributed among 210 participants through a validated data collection form. Self-medication was reported by 78.0% of students. The major cause for self-medication was minor illness (69.60%, p = 0.43) while previous prescriptions were the main source of knowledge as well as the major factor (62.80%, p = 0.74) dominating the self- medication practice. The results also demonstrated 78.80% of students had previous knowledge on self- medication and 73.40% of students always checked the information on the label; mainly the expiry date before use (75.60%). Furthermore, students demonstrated differences in their response level towardsthe adverse effect of drugs, the health hazard by a higher dose of drug, a physician’s help in case of side effects, taking medicine without proper knowledge, and stopping selling medicine without prescription. Conclusions: Awareness of proper OTC medicine use among students in institutions of higher learning is necessary to prevent the rise of inappropriate user practices. Key words: Self-medication, Adverse drug reactions, Health hazard, Prescription, Over the Counter
Publication date: 01/10/2024

https://ijbpas.com/pdf/2024/October/MS_IJBPAS_2024_8917.pdf

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https://doi.org/10.31032/IJBPAS/2024/13.10.8917