Assessing the Perceptions and Practice of Self-Medication among Bangladeshi Undergraduate Pharmacy Students

作者：Md. Omar Reza Seam, Rita Bhatta, Bijoy Saha, Abhijit Das, Md. Jamal Hossain, Siraj Uddin, Palash Karmakar, M. S. K. Choudhuri, Mohammad Sattar · 发表于：Pharmacy · 年份：2018 · DOI：10.3390/pharmacy6010006 · 被引用次数：88 · 研究领域：Antibiotic Use and Resistance、Pharmaceutical Practices and Patient Outcomes、Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies

Objectives: To evaluate the perceptions and extent of practicing self-medication among undergraduate pharmacy students. Methods: This cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was conducted over a six month period (January to June 2016) among undergraduate pharmacy students in five reputable public universities of Bangladesh. It involved face-to-face interviews regarding self-medication of 250 respondents selected by simple random sampling. Results: Self-medication was reported by 88.0% of students. Antipyretics (58.40%) were mostly preferred for the treatment of fever and headaches. The major cause for self-medication was minor illness (59.60%, p = 0.73) while previous prescriptions were the main source of knowledge as well as the major factor (52.80%, p = 0.94) dominating the self-medication practice. The results also demonstrated 88.80% of students had previous knowledge on self-medication and 83.60% of students always checked the information on the label; mainly the expiry date before use (85.60%). A significant (p < 0.05) portion of the students (51% male and 43% female) perceived it was an acceptable practice as they considered self-medication to be a segment of self-care. Furthermore, students demonstrated differences in their response level towards the 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...