European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Background: Self-medication (SM) is a global practice that is prevalent in all age groups and in all races. Although it has been successfully integrated into many healthcare systems throughout the world, it still presents with the problems of wrong diagnosis, inappropriate choice of treatment, drug abuse, delayed health seeking behaviour, double medication and harmful interactions, inappropriate storage and administration of expired medicines, medication wastage and in extreme cases death.
Methods: The study was a cross-sectional study conducted at ESUTH Parklane, Enugu Nigeria. A structured pre-tested self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from the consenting nurses. Data was analysed using SPSS version 25 and variables were presented in frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviation with the aid of tables. Bivariate analysis was done using chi-square test. The level of significance was set at p value ≤ 0.05.
Results: Most of the nurses were within the 30-39 years age group 95(44.4%). Majority were females 199(93.0%) and married 169(79.0%). Almost all of them were Christians 213(99.5%) and Igbo ethnic group 212(99.0%).
All the nurses have heard about SM but only 181(86.4%) have good knowledge of it. Majority of them have practiced SM in the past one year 185(86.4%). Among those that practiced SM, majority practiced rarely 157(73.4%). The commonest symptom for which SM was practiced was headache 194(90.7%) followed by fever 170(79.4%) and pain 163(76.2%). The commonly used drugs for SM were analgesics/anti-pyretic 194(90.7%) and anti-malarias 187(87.4%). Sources of drugs were majorly from pharmacy shops 195(91.1%). Their major reasons for SM were emergency illness 171(79.9%), mild illness 162(75.9%) and prior knowledge about the illness and its treatment 150(70.1%).Conclusion: There was good knowledge of SM among the studied nurses but their practice was poor as majority practiced SM in the past one year.