Publication:

A study on knowledge and practices of over the counter medications among 1st year medical students

Background Self-medication is widely practiced worldwide and often considered as a component of self-care. Selfmedication assumes a special significance among the medical students as they are the future medical practitioners and have a potential role in counselling the patients about the advantages and disadvantages of self-medication. Self-medication assumes a special significance among the medical students as they are the future medical practitioners. Medical students also differ from the general population because they are well-exposed to the knowledge about diseases and drugs. Therefore the present study was taken up to assess the extent of knowledge and practices of over the counter (OTC) drugs among the first year medical students in a tertiary care teaching hospital.

Methods A descriptive, cross sectional, non-interventional, observational study was conducted from November 2017 to January 2018 among 246 first year medical students. The data analyzed using descriptive statistics with percentages and averages using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS).

Results In the present study, it was found that 86% students practiced self-medication. Most common conditions for taking self-medication with OTC was fever (89%) followed by cough and cold (75%). 15% of them experienced adverse reactions on OTC self-medicated drugs. The main source of information during self-medication was reading material (56.3%) followed by advice from seniors/pharmacist (43.7%).

Conclusions Self-medication is widely practiced among undergraduate medical students. In this situation, we should educate the students about advantages and disadvantages of self-medication of over the counter drugs.