Self-medication in health students from two Brazilian universities

Resumo

Self medication is a component of self care and it
is considered as primary public health resource in health care
system. It can be defined as use of non-prescription medicines
by people on their own initiative. Dentists, together with doctors
and veterinarians, comprise the professional classes that may and
must prescribe medications for their patients. On the other hand,
the nursing professionals are the ones who more administer drugs
to patients in the ambulatory and hospital. Objective: This study
was aimed to find out the frequency of self medication in selected
university students, to find out the difference in the proportions of
self medication between dentistry and nursing students, as well to
evaluate the students’ knowledge of harmful effects of self medication
and common problems of students that use the self medication.
Material and methods: We were applied 209 questionnaires among
dentistry students from the 3rd to 8th semesters at the Paulista
University/Goiânia and 542 among nursing students from the 3rd
to 8th semesters at the Estacio de Sa University of Goiás. Results
and conclusion: In the present study was observed a high rate of
self-medication among undergraduate students in the health area, particularly among the dentistry and nurse students. The result was
alarming because the professional him/herself who should educate
patients and dissuade them from this practice is a habitual user; it
makes it more difficult to aspire to the future inhibition and reduction
of this practice that is so harmful to health.