Pranav, V and Narayanan, Prakash and Guddattu, Vasudeva (2017) Self medication practice among urban slum dwellers in udupi taluk, karnataka, India. International Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, 9 (6). pp. 19-23. ISSN 0975–1491

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Abstract

Objective: To estimate the prevalence and associated factors of self-medication among slum dwellers, and to explore the perception of community pharmacists’ on self-medication practices in Udupi taluk of Karnataka state in India. Methods: A quantitative survey among 300 randomly selected slum dwellers and in-depth interviews with community pharmacists and pharmacy practice experts were conducted during January-April 2016. Descriptive and analytical methods were used to estimate the prevalence and to identify associated factors. Thematic analysis was carried out on qualitative data. Results: The prevalence of self-medication practice was 47%. Factors such as gender, recent experience of an illness, and stocking medicines at home were significantly associated with self-medication practice. Self-medication practices were high for common ailments and for the illnesses they perceived as ‘mild’ (66%). Community pharmacists (87%) were the main source of information on medication. The majority (76%) of participants were ignorant about the expiry date of the medicines. The qualitative data highlighted pharmacist’s’ role to promote consultation with a physician, and educating patients on completion of treatment course and possible drug reactions. Conclusion: Self-medication practices found to be common among slum-dwellers due to reasons such as lesser awareness, easy availability of over-the-counter medications, and limitations related to universal access to health. There is a need to improve the awareness of dangers of self-medication to the general public and strengthen the mechanism to monitor dispensing of medicines without prescriptions.

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