Estimating the Prevalence of Self-Medication Practices among a Representative Population of Medical Students

Abstract

Background: In the domain of healthcare delivery, self medication (SM) is a widely prevalent form of health seeking behavior. Objectives: The current study has been planned with the objectives to estimate the prevalence of SM practices among medical students, and to assess the knowledge pertaining to SM among the study population. Methods: A cross sectional descriptive study will be conducted among a representative population of medical students in a rural medical college for a period of two months among 205 students. The data collection tool will be a pilot tested semi-structured questionnaire and will be used after obtaining written informed consent. The statistical analysis will be done using SPSS version 16. Results: Results will be presented using descriptive (frequency, percentages, mean, and standard deviation) and inferential (chi-square test) statistics. Conclusion: Considering the rising and alarming trends of antimicrobial resistance, it is our duty that we estimate the prevalence of SM among medical students and accordingly create awareness about not encouraging indiscriminate use of over the counter drugs.

Keywords

• medical students
• prescription
• self-medication