EVALUATION OF SELF-MEDICATION PRACTICE IN SECOND YEAR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AT A MEDICAL COLLEGE IN SOUTH GUJARAT

Objectives: Self-medication is the use of medicines by owns self without proper consultation. The practice of self-medication has increased, especially in medical students. Hence, this study was carried out to evaluate the self-medication practices among 2nd year undergraduate students of our institute. Methods: This was a cross-sectional and observational study conducted among the 2nd year MBBS students for 1 month. The study comprised a pre-approved and pre-validated questionnaire in English consisting of two sections: Section 1 included questions regarding demographic details of the students and whether they practiced self-medication in the past 1 year. If they responded with a yes, they were asked to fill Section 2 which had questions about the details of their self-medication practice. The questionnaire was administered by the faculty of the pharmacology department after taking written informed consent. Only completely filled questionnaires were evaluated. The results were expressed using mean and percentages. Results: 139 questionnaires were analyzed. About 80.58% students practiced self-medication. Female students (87.18%) were self-medicating more than male students (72.13%). Majority of the students who practiced self-medication obtained the medicine from the pharmacy (78.57%) and used it for 7 or fewer days. Analgesics (90.18%) were the most common group of drugs used followed by antipyretics. The most common indication was pain or headache (87.50%). Minor illness (73.21%) was the most common reason for self-medication. Conclusion: The practice of self-medication was quite high in the 2nd year MBBS students of our institute. They lack awareness regarding the safe and rational use of medicines