Awareness of risks associated with Self-medication among Patients attending General Out-patient Department of a Tertiary Hospital in South Western Nigeria

Abstract

Self-medication has become a common practice in many developing countries like Nigeria and mainly due to lack of access to health care, easy availability of over the counter drugs in markets and poor drug regulatory practices. The study assessed knowledge of people about the risks associated with self-medication; identify the causes of self-medication; assess the commonly misused drugs; and identify information sources for purchasing and using drugs without prescription. The study was conducted in General Outpatient Department of a tertiary hospital in Nigeria and Census was used to select the respondents. Descriptive cross-sectional design was adopted and questionnaire was used for this study. Data was analyzed by using SSPS version 22.0 while frequency tables, bar charts and chi square were used to present the data. Findings revealed that 82.3% of the respondents had high awareness of the risks associated with self-medication, high cost of treatment and previous experience were the most identified causes of self-medication. Commonly abused drugs were Analgesics and antibiotics. Major sources of information for purchasing the drugs were the pharmacy and family members while age, sex and educational were significantly associated with awareness of the risk of self-medication. The study concluded that patients had high awareness of the risks associated with self-medication, high cost of treatment and previous experience with disease accounted for the practice. It is therefore important for Nigerian government to enforcement the existing regulations against free display and sales of drugs in unauthorized places.