Self-medication in nursing students

• Ríos, Norma Beatriz ^[1] ; Arteaga, Celeste Macarena ^[1] ; González Arias, Yureny ^[1] ; Martínez, Aylen Ayelen ^[1] ; Nogawa, Melina Hitomi ^[1] ; Quinteros, Ayelen Macarena ^[1] ; Canova Barrios, Carlos Jesús ^[2]
  1. [1] Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires

     Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires

     Argentina

     
  2. [2] Universidad de Ciencias Empresariales y Sociales

     Universidad de Ciencias Empresariales y Sociales

     Argentina

     
• Localización: Rehabilitación Interdisciplinaria, ISSN-e 2953-5069, Vol. 4, Nº. 0, 2024 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Interdisciplinary Rehabilitation / Rehabilitacion Interdisciplinaria)
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Objective: to determine the prevalence and factors associated with the practice of self-medication among undergraduate nursing students at a private institution in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

    Methodology: descriptive, quantitative, and cross-sectional study. The sample consisted of 99 nursing students who were administered a self-medication instrument.

    Results: a total of 99 students aged between 25 and 35 years were interviewed. Most of them were female (82,83 %) and in their first year of study (29,29 %). The prevalence of self-medication was 100 %. Television and social networks were the main sources of information about medicines; the symptoms that motivated self-medication were pain and cold, and consequently the most used medicines were analgesics (82,83 %) and anti-influenza medicines (78,79 %). When asked where they obtained the medicines, 79,80 % obtained them from pharmacies and 48,48 % from relatives.

    Conclusions: the prevalence of self-medication was high and was mainly related to the availability of economic resources to access medicines and the possibility of buying them at the pharmacy without a prescription. It is necessary to implement activities to guarantee the responsible use of medicines among nursing students.