An-Najah Staff

Objective: self-medication is practiced significantly worldwide. No data is available on the current status of self-medication practice in Palestine. The objective of this study is to assess the extent of self-medication practice among a random sample of An-Najah National University students.
Methods: this was a cross-sectional, anonymous, questionnaire-based survey that included 1581 students of different academic levels enrolled at different faculties at An-Najah National University. A pre-validated questionnaire with several open-ended and closed-ended questions was administered to the students. Data were coded, entered, and analyzed using SPSS version 13.
Results: sixty three percent of respondents were females enrolled at non-medical schools. The mean age of respondents was 19.9 years. Ninety-eight percent of respondents reported practicing self-medication. There was no statistical difference between respondents who reported practicing self-medication based on gender or type of school (medical vs. non medical). The average number of medications reported by self-medication practitioners was 2.63 ± 1.38 medications per respondent. Analgesics, decongestants, herbal remedies, and antibiotics were the most common classes reported in self-medication. Headache, sore throat, flu, and dysmenorrhea were the most common aliments for which respondents seek self-medication. The majority of respondents practiced self-medication because the ailments they had were simple or because they had previous experience. The majority of respondents had good medication knowledge but did not posses high self-care orientation. Neither medication knowledge, nor self-care orientation was a predicting factor associated with the practice of self-medication. However, in selecting a particular type of medication the type of school, gender, and self-care orientation were influential.
Conclusion: self-medication is very common among An-Najah students. This practice is common for treating clinical conditions that are either simple or previously experienced. Although, no significant predictors of self-medication did exist among the studied group, levels of self-care orientation and medication knowledge can be of value in analyzing the types of medications employed by self-medication practices.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate self-medication practices with antibiotics among school teachers in Palestine.
Methods: A survey was conducted via a structured questionnaire among governmental school teachers regarding their practices and attitude toward antibiotics. All data were entered and analyzed using SPSS 15.
Results: A total of 1039 teachers completed and returned the questionnaire; giving a response rate of 64.9%. Respondents were divided as follows: group I (19.4%) were those who used antibiotics through self-medication only, group II (12.4%) used antibiotics by prescription only, group III (44.7%) used antibiotics by self-medication and prescription while those in group IV (23.3%) were those who did not report using antibiotics in the past six months. Antibiotic utilization among respondents was 76.7% in the past six months. Respondents in the 4 groups had comparable demographic characteristics. Respondents in group I were more likely (42.2%) to administer antibiotics to children without medical consultation, store antibiotic leftover (52.3%) for further use, stack antibiotics at home (59.7%) to be used whenever needed and had the least attitude to finish the entire antibiotic course when prescribed to them (59.9%). Across the four groups, male and female respondents had comparable attitude toward antibiotic use except that males tend to store antibiotic leftover more than females while females tend to finish the entire antibiotic course when taken by self-medication more than males. Respondents in groups I and III mainly consulted pharmacists on self-medication and obtained the antibiotics mainly from community pharmacy. Penicillin was the major class utilized by respondent either by self-medication or by prescription in groups I (74.3%), II (70.5%) and III (68.9%). Sore throat was the most common (30.3%) clinical condition that respondents self-treat with antibiotics, followed by symptoms of common cold (24.4%).
Conclusion: Our study showed that self-medication practices with antibiotics are common and that most of these practices were inappropriate. These results should trigger health policy makers in Palestine to take action in order to prevent antibiotic misuse. Public awareness about proper use of antibiotics is needed. Furthermore, strengthening pharmacy laws and pharmacy control over non-prescription sale of antibiotics is highly recommended.