ASSESSING THE PREVALENCE OF SELF-MEDICATION WITH ANALGESICS AMONG STUDENTS IN HOLY FAMILY NURSING AND MIDWIFERY TRAINING COLLEGE, BEREKUM.

Abstract

Self-medication practice is the use of medicine without any professional supervision. It has its ultimate benefits but, in a way, increases the risk of developing resistance to the ailments. This continuous practice is not any different as it assumes a special significance among nurses in various hospitals. This study therefore sought to assess the prevalence of self-medication practices with analgesics among student nurses in Holy family nursing and midwifery training college. The study made used a quantitative cross-sectional survey consisting of only student nurses in Holy family nursing and midwifery training college. Using stratified sampling technique, fifty (50) respondents participated in the study. A validated, self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. The results indicated that selfmedication was at a peak (76%), the need for a quick relief (25.3%) accounted for the major reason why they self-medicate, Paracetamol (45.9%) was the highest self-medicated analgesic, self-medicating based on their own experience (23.6%) and acquiring analgesics from available pharmacies (51.0%) were the common sources and avenues to obtain analgesics. Predominantly, headache (32.5%) was the major ailment which compelled the respondents to self-medicate with analgesics. It was concluded that though student nurses are aware of the fact that self-medication is a bad practice, the need for a quick relief, availability and accessibility of pharmacies keeps it on the rise with paracetamol being the most commonly abused drug for ailments such as headaches.