Self-Care or Self-Harm? A cross sectional Study of Self-Medication among Healthcare Undergraduates.

Background: Self-medication is an important public health concern, with varied presentation. The medicines widely used in self-medication are over the counter drugs which are used to treat common health problems. Self-medication is very commen in India. Healthcare students often self-administer drugs to simulate real-world scenarios and prepare for clinical situations, including managing adverse reactions or complications. Aim & Objective: To determine the prevalence, assess the knowledge, and explore the perceptions and attitudes towards self-medication practices among undergraduate healthcare students. Settings and Design: This is a cross-sectional study conducted at one of the medical college of western Maharashtra. Methods and Material: a cross-sectional study is planned using a self-administered questionnaire. It was conducted at one of the medical college in western Maharashtra with the sample population consisting of enrolled students in the Bachelor of Medicine & Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) program. To gauge students' understanding and perceptions of self-medication practices, a 5-point Likert scale, from "strongly agree" (5) to "strongly disagree" (1) was used. Statistical analysis used: Epi info the statistical software used for data analysis. Descriptive like mean and standard deviation done for each item on the Likert scale. Frequency and percent measured for categorical veriable. Results: A total of 196 undergraduate medical students from different studing year participated in the study. The prevalence of self-medication among participants was 81.1%. Self-medication was more common in females as compare to males which found ststisticaly significantly. Participants denote high awareness towards self-medication. While many participants documented responsible practices of self medication, such as checking expiry dates and reading drug information befor administration. Fever, cough/cold and headache were most common conditions where self-medication done frequently. Conclusions: Our study admits that self-medication is highly dominant among undergraduate medical students, particularly among females and those in senior academic years. While participants displayed a commendable level of awareness regarding drug safety, a substantial gap between knowledge and practice persists.