Risk Management and Healthcare Policy (Jan 2019)
Patterns of self-medication among university students – a medical students’ analysis
Abstract
Syed Waqar, Mustafa Saad Al-Khayat, Mohammed Athif Khan Faculty of Medicine, St George’s, University of London, London, UK We read the article by Alshogran et al1 with great interest. The article aimed to identify the “prevalence, attitudes, determinants and sources of self-medication” among both medical and non-medical students. As medical students ourselves, the article resonated with us and encouraged us to explore the subject of self-medication.Author's replyOsama Y Alshogran,1 Karem H Alzoubi,1 Omar F Khabour,2 1Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan, 2Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan Waqar et al have discussed the self-medication practice among medical students. There are some points we would like to display in response to their letter and as a further stimulus to the readership. First, we agree with the point that the patterns of self-medication might be dependent on the seniority of students. When students advanced in their study, the knowledge about the disease and medications might be different and that would have an impact on self-medication practice.1,2 Indeed, I suspect that some would disagree with this opinion as they believe that students have little medical knowledge during the preparatory years of study (especially the first year). View the original paper by Alshogan and colleagues.
