Hemşirelik Öğrencilerinin Ağrı Yönetiminde Kendi Kendine Analjezik Kullanma Durumları

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the status of nursing students regarding self medication with analgesics for pain management. Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was conducted in the nursing department of a university in Turkey between May 12th 27th 2016. For the data collection, a form was used that included questions about the individual characteristics of the students as well as the status of self medication with analgesics. Descriptive analysis, chi-square test and independent samples t-test were used for data analyzing. Statistically significant differences were expressed at the 95 percent level of confidence (p < .05). Results: Among 398 nursing students, 199 of them (50%) reported using analgesics for pain management during the last 30 days and self medication with analgesics rate among students was 61.8% (n = 123). The main reason for self medication was a previous analgesic experience. Conclusion: This study showed a critically high rate of self medication with analgesics without a prescription among nursing students. There is a need to raise awareness of nursing students about the disadvantages of self medication to provide safe analgesic use.