Dataset Information

Self-medication with antibiotics among non-medical university students of Karachi: a cross-sectional study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The prevalence of self -medication with antibiotics is quite high in developing countries as opposed to developed countries. Antibiotics are often taken erroneously for certain ailments, without having the appropriate knowledge of their use. This carries potential risks for the individual as well as the community, in form of several side effects such as antibiotic resistance. Therefore the prevalence of self-medicated antibiotics in developing countries needs to be studied.

Methods

A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out at six different non-medical universities of Karachi. 431 students were included in the study. Data was collected using self-administered questionnaires and analyzed using SPSS version 19.

Results

50.1% students reported having self-medicated themselves in the past 6 months and 205 (47.6%) reported self-medication with antibiotics. Amoxicillin was the most self-prescribed antibiotic (41.4%). Awareness of the adverse effects of antibiotics was demonstrated by 77.3% of the students and sleep disturbance was the most commonly known (46.5%) side effect. 63.1% denied having any knowledge about antibiotic resistance and only 19.9% correctly knew that indiscriminate use of antibiotics can lead to increased antibiotic resistance.

Conclusion

The prevalence of self-medication with antibiotics among the non-medical university students was high despite the awareness of adverse effects. Antibiotic resistance was a relatively unknown terminology.

SUBMITTER: Shah SJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4320599 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Self-medication with antibiotics among non-medical university students of Karachi: a cross-sectional study.

Shah Syed Jawad SJ Ahmad Hamna H Rehan Rija Binte RB Najeeb Sidra S Mumtaz Mirrah M Jilani Muhammad Hashim MH Rabbani Muhammad Sharoz MS Alam Muhammad Zakariya MZ Farooq Saba S Kadir M Masood MM

BMC pharmacology & toxicology 20141223

<h4>Background</h4>The prevalence of self -medication with antibiotics is quite high in developing countries as opposed to developed countries. Antibiotics are often taken erroneously for certain ailments, without having the appropriate knowledge of their use. This carries potential risks for the individual as well as the community, in form of several side effects such as antibiotic resistance. Therefore the prevalence of self-medicated antibiotics in developing countries needs to be studied.<h4 ...[more]

PMID: 25534613

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Project description:BackgroundCross-cultural competence is widely regarded to play an important role in being able to deliver appropriate and effective health care to patients with different backgrounds, race, gender orientation and cultural beliefs. This study aims to assess how medical students feel about their comfort, knowledge, and skill level in handling a diverse patient population using a validated questionnaire.MethodsThis study was carried out over a period of three weeks from July 5th to July 26th of 2021, in the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan. All medical students who fulfilled the eligibility criteria and gave informed consent were included in the study. A modified version of the Harvard cross-cultural care survey was used to assess the medical students' comfort, knowledge and skill level in a variety of circumstances related to patients with different backgrounds and cultures. Descriptive statistical analysis of the questionnaire items was carried out. We reported frequencies and percentages for gender and year of study. For the questionnaire items, we reported mean, assuming that our Likert scale had equivariant intervals. Furthermore, multivariate analysis between demographics and themes was carried out. A p-value of < 0.05 was taken as statistically significant.ResultsIt was found that students of year 5 considered themselves more knowledgeable, comfortable and skilled in dealing with patients of different backgrounds, religions and beliefs compared to students of year 1 and had a higher average score in all of these categories which was statistically significant. Additionally, students who believed it is extremely important to practice medicine with a diverse patient population also had the highest averages in perceived knowledge, comfort and skills in dealing with patients of different sociocultural backgrounds compared to students who believed it wasn't important at all.ConclusionThis is a first of its kind study in a private medical university in Pakistan and highlights the students' self-assessment of their competence when caring for patients from different backgrounds. This study can be used as a reference study in the region to carry out further studies and to assess and improve the gaps in medical training being provided.

Project description:Background: Self-medication is an important issue for health authorities around the world. It is also a common practice among university students. Objective: This study aimed to assess the prevalence of and reasons for self-medication among university students. Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional community based survey design was adopted for the current study. All the students enrolled in Hail University, Saudi Arabia were selected to include in the study. Data was collected from February to April 2020 using a validated questionnaire and were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics, Version 22.0. Using convenient sampling technique, the total sample size calculated was 370 participants. A descriptive analysis was performed. Chi-square test and binary logistic regression was used for analyzing the data where statistical significance was set at p ≤ 0.05. Results: A total of 373 participants completed the questionnaire. The response rate was 84%. The overall prevalence of self-medication among the students was 98.2%. Of the 373 participants, 40.8% were men, and 59.2% were women. Furthermore, 56% were in fields other than health sciences, 23.1% were in preparatory foundation courses, and 20.9% were from the health and medical sciences. The most frequent medical condition that led to self-medication was headaches (92.85%), followed by coughs (37.5%), colic (31.9%) and influenza (30.3%). On univariate analysis, it is revealed that for both abdominal colic [OR 0.54 (0.34-0.86), p = 0.01] and constipation [OR 0.57 (0.32-1.02), p 0.05], female gender was observed significantly with low prevalence than male. However, for influenza, the self-medication prevalence [OR 1.86 (1.19-2.91), p = 0.006] observed was significantly higher in female participants than male. A significant association (p = 0.011) between the self-medication factors and gender was shown in the current study results. Conclusion: An alarming prevalence of self-medication among the students was recorded. Health care providers can increase awareness of the issue by educating individuals about the harmful effects of irresponsible self-medication.

Project description:BackgroundPrescription of medicines by non-doctors is an issue with serious global implications. To our knowledge prescription of drugs by medical and non-medical students has not been studied before. We aimed to determine the practice and attitudes of drug prescription by medical students and: a) how non-medical students respond to this practice, b) How this compares with the attitudes and practices of non-medical students.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 600 students randomly selected from 2 medical and 2 non-medical universities. Ethical requirements were ensured and data was collected using self administered questionnaires. The Chi square tests and logistic univariate regression analyses were performed using SPSS v 14 to identify associations and differences.ResultsA total of 572 forms were completed and the sample consisted of 295 medical students and 277 non-medical students with no significant difference in their demographic profile. Of the 295 medical students 163 (55.3%) had prescribed a medicine independently and most (48.5%) said that they did this 2-3 times a year. The commonest reasons for this were 'previous experience' (68.7%), 'problem too trivial' (34.4%) and 'we knew everything about the condition' (31.3%). One-third (33.6%) of the undergraduate medical students thought that it was alright to independently diagnose an illness while a vast majority (78.3%) thought that it was alright for them to prescribe medicines to others. Common prescriptions were pain-killers, antipyretics, antiallergics and antibiotics. Medical students who prescribed medicines were of lesser age (CI = 1.366-1.887) and more likely to belong to the 1st (CI = 3.588-21.731), 2nd (CI = 2.059- 10.869) or 3rd (CI = 4.331-26.374) year of medical college. One-third (33.9%) of the non-medical students reported that a medical student had prescribed medicines to them and 21.3% said that they trusted medical students and would follow their advice blindly. Many students thought it alright for medical students to diagnose and treat illnesses. A similar proportion of non-medical students (58.5%) reported prescribing medicines to others.ConclusionPrescription of medicines by non-doctors is rampant and urgent corrective measures are warranted. We have highlighted areas for future research and intervention and have given a few recommendations.

Project description:BackgroundMistreatment or belittlement of medical students either by faculty or fellow students has often been reported. Perception of mistreatment has also been associated with increased degree of psychological morbidity. There is a lack of such studies being conducted amongst the medical students of Pakistan. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and forms of perceived mistreatment and presence of mental health morbidity in a private medical school in Pakistan. Also, any association between mental health morbidity and mistreatment was to be identified.MethodsA cross sectional study was carried out on medical students from Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan during the period of June-September 2007. A self administered questionnaire, adapted from Frank et al and Baldwin et al was distributed to a total of 350 students. The questionnaire consisted of three parts: the first dealing with the demographics of the population, the second concerning the various forms of mistreatment, while the third assessed the mental health of students using the General Health Questionnaire 12(GHQ12). Descriptive statistics were performed. The Chi-square test and Fisher's exact tests were applied.ResultsA total of 350 students were approached out of which 232 completed the questionnaire giving a response rate of 66.2%. Mistreatment was reported by 62.5% (145/232) of the respondents. Of these, 69.7% (83/145) were males and 54.9% (62/145) were females. There was a significant relationship between gender, year division, stress at medical school and possible use of drugs/alcohol and reported mistreatment but no statistical relationship was seen with psychiatric morbidity. The overall prevalence of psychological morbidity was 34.8% (77/221).ConclusionThis study suggests high prevalence of perceived mistreatment and psychological morbidity among Pakistani medical students. However, no association was found between these two aspects of medical student education. There is a need to bring about changes to make the medical education environment conducive to learning. Increased student feedback, support systems and guidance about progress throughout the year and the provision of adequate learning resources may provide help with resolving both of these issues.

Dataset Information

Self-medication with antibiotics among non-medical university students of Karachi: a cross-sectional study.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Self-medication with antibiotics among non-medical university students of Karachi: a cross-sectional study.

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