Self-medication in academics from medical school

Abstract

Objective: Evaluate the self-medication by students of University of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto (UNAERP)in 2008. Methods: A quantitative cross-sectional study conducted throughout 2008 in with 200 medicinestudents, who answered a self-administered questionnaire containing multiple choice questions regarding self-medication and consumption of medicines. Statistical analysis was employed to test Pearsoncorrelation. The confidence interval considered was of 95%. The study was approved by UNAERP EthicsCommittee. Results: There were 58.5% of female participants. The age average was 21.5 years old. Theprevalence of self-medication was 92.0%. The prevalence among students from different stages of thecourse was not significantly different: 86.6%, 90.0%, 93.3%, 94.4% and 97.1%, among the students from,respectively, the 1st to 4th year and from the internship. Purchasing controlled drugs without presentinga prescription occurred between 6.5% of the students and 69.5% reported having already oriented otherpeople to take drugs. The drugs most commonly consumed in the form of self-medication were analgesics and antipyretics (90.2%), non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (85.3%), cold and flu medicines in general(75.5%), nasal decongestants (69.0%) and antibiotics (47.2%). Conclusions: The self-medication amongMedical students analyzed was greater when compared with both national and international researches.Self-medication among medical students is an important problem and requires intervention, especiallythe academic educational facilities.