Asian Journal of Medical Principles and Clinical Practice

Background: Self-medication is a human behavior in which an individual uses a substance or any exogenous influence to self-administer treatment for physical or psychological ailments. The most widely self-medicated substances are over-the-counter drugs and dietary supplements, which are used to treat common health issues at home.

Objectives: The objective of this research study is (a) to explore the perception among health professionals, (b) It further describes the barriers to reach physician and reasons of self medication.

Methodology: The study was conducted on simple random sample of 125 students of Hail University. A comprehensive questionnaire was used as a tool for the study and results were analyzed via SPSS v17.0.

Results: It was seen that out of 125, most of the students were working in a hospital environment and most of them were females. The gender wise evaluation of self treatment showed that females were in an opinion of self treatment in the case of illness as compare of males. And the most commonly self administered drugs were analgesics and antibiotics. This was then supported by the behavioral analysis of health professional which showed that maximum percent of health professionals are satisfied with their own treatment rather than seeking advice from other expert and physicians.

Conclusion: Through all the results obtained it is concluded that there were many significant barriers identified which discouraged health professionals to accessover the counter drugs. It is very important to address this issue in various medical fields to challenge the attitude and opinions of health professionals regarding lacking of health seeking behaviors. There is also a need of change in societys view that health professionals have to be healthy all the time. Society has to understand that health professional is also human being and they also need medical help to remain healthy.