z-logo
open-access-imgOpen Access
Self- medication practice among engineering students in a engineering college in north India
Author(s) -
Rahul Parakh,
Neha Sharma,
Kriti Kothari,
Richa Parakh,
Pradeep Parakh
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the journal of phytopharmacology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2320-480X
DOI - 10.31254/phyto.2013.2405
Subject(s) - self medication , medicine , family medicine , chi square test , descriptive statistics , mathematics , statistics
Aims: This study was undertaken to determine the knowledge, attitude & practice of self medication among engineering students of all the years of NIMS Engineering College, Jaipur, Rajasthan. Methods: This study was an anonymous, questionnaire-based, descriptive study. A self-developed, pre-validated questionnaire consisting of both open-ended and close-ended questions was filled by 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th year engineering students. Data was reviewed, organized and summarized as counts and percentages and evaluated using the Chi-square test and p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Out of a total of 346 students, 70.5% were male & 29.4% were females. Their age ranged from 17-27 years. Out of these, 75.7% students had taken self medication with 22.3% being females and 77.86% being males. The commonest indications for self-medication were fever seen in 176(67.1%) of the students followed by, cough/common cold 104(39.69%). 37.4% of the students didn’t feel the need to go to a doctor and this was the most frequent reasons for resorting to self-medication and the main source of self medication was guardians (54.9%). Analgesics were the commonest drugs used (56.5%) followed by antimicrobials (15.6%) with 52% of the students completed the recommended course of antimicrobials. 46.5% students thought that self medication was harmful. Conclusion: The practice of self-medication in our study was common and often inappropriate and this high prevalence is a cause of concern. Education and proper information about the drugs may go a long way in promoting responsible self medication.

The content you want is available to Zendy users.

Already have an account? Click here to sign in.
Having issues? You can contact us here