Self Medication Practices among Patients seen in A Suburban Tertiary Eye Care Centre in Nigeria
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3126/ajms.v5i2.8452Keywords:
self-medication, eye patients, suburban, tertiary eye care centre, practicesAbstract
Objective: To identify practice and pattern of self-medication use among new patients in ophthalmology clinic in a suburban community.
Background: Self medication is a common practice all over the world. When consumers self-medicate without first consulting the eye care giver, issues of safety and inappropriateness of use arise.
Methods: A cross sectional, analytic and questionnaire based study of 470 consecutive patients seen between April and June 2011 in a tertiary eye care centre in Nigeria was conducted. Data were analyzed using SPSS and p value <0.05 was considered significant.
Results: The mean age was 43 ±24 years with a M: F ratio of 1:1.3. There was utilization of an initial medication in 73.6% (346) of the respondents before presentation. Of the group that utilized medication, 108(31.3%) could neither mention name nor show sample of medication used. Only 14.9% of patients consuming nonprescription drugs sought assistance from any health professional regarding proper selection or use. Majority (73.6%) of the patients got their medication following assistance sought from retail outlets of non-prescription medicine, friends, relations or self prescription. The utilized medications were inappropriate in 90% of the respondents who utilized them. The most common symptoms necessitating the utilization of initial medication were blurring of vision and itching.
Conclusion: There was a high rate of self medication with blurring of vision and itching as the commonest complaints among the patients. There is still a very low incidence of preventive eye care in terms of ophthalmic check-up among our people.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ajms.v5i2.8452
Asian Journal of Medical Science, Volume-5(2) 2014: 85-90
Downloads
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- The journal holds copyright and publishes the work under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC license that permits use, distribution and reprduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes. The journal should be recognised as the original publisher of this work.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).