Self-Medication of Antibiotics Among Medical Students: A Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

Objective: To determine the frequency and perception regarding self-medication of antibiotics among medical students of Al-Nafees medical college, Isra university.
Study Design: Descriptive cross-sectional study.
Place and Duration of Study: It was conducted in Al-Nafees Medical College from 1 April- 30 June 2019.
Materials and Methods: This study was conducted among medical students of Al-Nafees Medical College. A total of 220 students were included in the study, via convenient sampling technique, 44 students from each year, with male to female ratio of 1:1. A structured questionnaire comprising of 12 multiple choice questions along with a demographic details section was used to collect the data. The data was entered and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0.
Results: Out of 220 students (mean age 21 +/-4 years), 74% of students were self-medicating. 26.8% said prior experience of use was the reason for self-medication while 2.7% wanted to maintain privacy. About 39.50% of students used antibiotics to treat fever, whereas 5.90% for genitourinary infections. About 38.2% reported that the major source of information was acquired from other students, while 7.7% from friends or internet. Type of antibiotic was put under consideration by 40.5% of the students while self-medicating, 38.6% consulted doctor
for selecting dosage. Dosage was changed during course of treatment by 16.8% , major reason (28.6%) behind it was improvement in health condition. Twenty-two percent stopped taking antibiotics before course completion on disappearance of symptoms while 29.5% labelled it as an unacceptable practice.
Conclusion: The trend of antibiotics' self-medication is quite high among medical students which may result in an increase in antibiotic resistance.