George Emil Palade University of Medicine,
Pharmacy, Science and Technology of Targu Mures, The 8th International Medical Congress for Students and Young Doctors, September 24-26, 2020Introduction. Self-medication represents the process of administering substances for physical
or psychological symptoms, without the advice of a phyisician. At the population level, studies
show that the prevalence of self-medication is high among young adults due to the level of
education, accessibility to Internet services, as well as knowledge regarding medicines, being
a common problem among students, especially students from the healthcare sector.
Aim of the study. This study evaluates the prevalence, practices and attitudine towards selfmedication
of the students from the University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and
Technology of Târgu Mureș.
Materials and methods. We conducted a cross-sectional study among 403 students (87,6%
female, 12,3% male) from the University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology of
Târgu Mureș. The respondents were 1st to 6th year students from the Faculty of Medicine,
Faculty of Dental Medicine and Faculty of Pharmacy. The participants responded to an online
23 questions survey which included informations regarding demographics, self-medication
practices and attitude towards self-treatment.
Results. Self-medication was highly popular among students, 94,5% of the respondents
claimed that they used self-medication. The most common factors that led to the decision of
self-treatment were: the positive experience with a medication used in the past (76,9%), urgent condition (33,6%) and self-confidence regarding own medical competences (32,8%).
Headache (81,9%), menstrual symptoms (73,5%) and fever (64,57%) were the most frequently
described symptoms. The most commonly used drugs were anti-inflammatory drugs (85,3%),
analgetics and antipiretics (83,46%), vitamins and supplements (68,77%) and
laxatives/antidiarrheal medicines (46,72%). Most of the students (83,4%) claim that they are
against self-medication, but it can still be used in certain situations, while only 2,2% were
completely against self-medication.
Conclusions. Self-medication is a common practice and its occurrence is tremendously high
among students. However, the attitude of the students towards self-treatment was mainly
negative, according to them, this could only be used in specific situations
