Self-medication Practice of Antibiotics among Medical and Dental Undergraduate Students in a Medical College in Eastern Nepal: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

Journal of Nepal Medical Association

article

Namita Kumari Mandal¹  Gajendra Prasad Rauniyar¹  Dilli Sher Rai¹  Dipesh Raj Panday¹  Ramayan Kushwaha¹  Santosh Kumari Agrawal²  Pragya Regmee³ 

[1] Department of Pharmacology, BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences;Department of Public Health Dentistry, College of Dental Surgery, BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences;Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences

关键词: antibiotics;    drugs;    medical students;    prescription;    self medication;   

DOI  :  10.31729/jnma.4914

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Nepal Medical Association since

【 摘 要 】

Introduction: Self-medication plays significant role in the development of adverse drug reactions,antibiotic resistance, and masking of underlying diseases. Medical students have some knowledgeabout the use of antibiotics and have a higher chance of irrational and injudicious use. This studyaims to find the prevalence of self-medication practice of antibiotics among medical and dentalundergraduate students. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was done among medical and dental undergraduatestudents from the first year to the fifth year at BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences from 1st June2018 to 30th August 2018. Ethical approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Committee(IRC/1210/018). Whole sampling was done. Data was collected using a self-responding, semistructured questionnaire and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 11.5. Results: In total 558 students, the prevalence of self-medication practice of different antibioticswas 285 (51.1%) within the past year. Among self-medicated students, 152 (53.3%) were males. Thecommon drug self-medicated was Azithromycin 80 (28.1%) and the common medical condition touse non-prescription antibiotics was for treatment of sore throat with runny nose 129 (45.3%). Themain source for obtaining non-prescription antibiotics were retail pharmacies 157 (55.1%). Conclusions: Self-medication with antibiotics was at increasing rate with each succeeding yearsof the medical courses. Medical students should be made aware of the rational use of antibioticsby incorporating appropriate courses in their academic curriculum for more refined practice onantibiotics rather than advancement of theoretical knowledge alone.

【 授权许可】

CC BY