Trends of Self-Medication Amongst the Patients Visiting the Out-Patient Department of Combined Military Hospital, Lahore

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of our study was to assess the trends of self-medication practices and to determine the prevalence, characteristics, related factors, and effects of self-medication among the patients conducted.
Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was on patients of Combined Military Hospital Lahore on a sample size of 365. The data was collected and entered in a predesigned questionnaire about self-medication later analyzed using SPSS version 17.0.
Results: The prevalence of self-medication was 95.3% and effectiveness was 87.7%. The common reasons for self-medication were prior knowledge of usefulness of remedy (63.3%), non-affordability of consultant charges (18.4%), and lack of time (21.9%). Frequently used medicines included antibiotics (30.1%), analgesics (69.6%), antipyretics (51.0%), and antihistamines (23.6%). Respondents claimed to receive information about these drugs from various sources including doctor (38.6%), previous prescription (31.8%), retailer seller (13.4%), family/friends (43.6%), media (7.9%) and other sources (1.6%).
Conclusion: It had been concluded that there is a high prevalence of self-medication. There is a need to raise public awareness about the appropriate use in order to prevent potential hazards of self-medication.

How to cite: Khan B.A.A, Muzahir F, Rauf S.A, Fatima S.R, Pervaiz A, Jamil S. Trends of self- medication amongst
the patients visiting the out-patient