A study on knowledge about self medication among college students in Karnataka

According to WHO, self-medication is defined as obtaining and consuming drugs without the advice of a physician either for diagnosis, prescription or surveillance of treatment. Self medication is very helpful if the suffering person is economically poor or not able to bear the expenses if he shows his illness to the concerned expert doctor. Many times self-medication gives self confidence of handling minor illnesses on their own. Self medication is the choice when there is lack of accessibility to an expert doctor due to various reasons. Out of 400 students participated in the study, Mean age of the students was 21.3(±1.32) years. 100% of the students were practicing self medication one or the other way by themselves or with the help of parents or friends. Most common reasons favoring self-medication were that probplem is not serious (249, 62.25%) can be managed by themselves followed by, previous experience (142, 35.5%) and lack of time (130, 25.75%). Advice by parents and friends was the most common source of information for the participants for self-medication (273, 68.25%), followed by Doctor’s previous prescription which were (242, 60%) and also by advice from Pharmacists (164, 41%). Repeated health education should be given to bring down behavioral change in practice of self-medication.