EVALUATION OF MEDICATION KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES AND SELF MEDICATION PRACTICES AMONG PHARMACY STUDENTS

Abstract

Self-medication has become prevalent in the modern era and can lead to serious adverse drug reactions and drug interactions. Hence, this study was carried out to evaluate and assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices of medication use among pharmacy students of the University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan. A prospective cross sectional study was performed on 600 pharmacy students of different professional years of Pharm.D. from November 2022 to May 2023. The sample was taken from each professional year and data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics and percentile analysis. Three sections of the questionnaire were developed section “A” including 13 true false questions to measure knowledge, section “B” comprising of 5 questions for attitude and section “C” encompassing 10 questions for medication practice. A total of 600 students completed the survey. Knowledge of students on duration of therapy of antihypertensive, drug interactions with antacids, medication frequency and storage conditions of ointment, gel and syrup were answered correctly by more than 50% of the respondents. Among the respondents, 80.2% had awareness regarding Drug-Drug and Drug-Food interactions. The study revealed good attitude of the students regarding their trust on pharmacists as consultant of drug information (98.2%), their necessity of dispensing and consultation of medicines (96.8%) and need of consultation on unusual effects of the medications by pharmacist (85.5%). The results concluded that, 83.3% of the respondents intended to self-medicate on minor aliments like colds and 42% of them practiced sharing their medicines to others. Hence, intervention is required towards enhancing drug knowledge and safe medication practices by conducting drug education seminars and by improving the services of professional pharmacists to educate their general public.