Self Medication with Antibiotics among Medical and Pharmacy Students in North India
Open accessAbstract
Self medication practices among the medical and paramedical professionals have been reported in many countries, however, very limited research was done exclusively on antibiotic in North India. This study was designed to assess the prevalence and pattern of antibiotic usage for self diagnosed diseases among the medical and pharmacy students. This was a questionnaire based cross sectional study conducted among medical and pharmacy students in North India. A total 326 students participated in the study and data of 316 students were eligible for analysis. 57.63% medical and 66.9% pharmacy students reported to use antibiotics in last one year. Fever was the predominant ailments for which medical (48.41%) and pharmacy (46.88%) students' self medicated. Most of the medical (74.6%) and pharmacy (61.9%) students had preferred amoxicillin for their ailments. The majority of medical students, 65.87% have self medicated because of their pharmacological knowledge in contrast to 62.1% pharmacy students. Adverse drug reaction experienced by 29.36% and 11.7% medical and pharmacy students respectively. Statistically no significant difference was observed in antibiotic usage between medical and pharmacy students (p = 0.08). To curb the growing trend of this unethical practices students of health care professional needs to be educated.
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Antibiotics are often inappropriately administered for viral infections, which can exacerbate health conditions.
“Alarmingly, antibiotics are often inappropriately administered for viral infections, which can exacerbate health conditions [47].”
From Prevalence and associated factors of self-medication with antibiotics among pediatric population in India: a systematic review and meta-analysis (2025) · cites this paper as [47]
Antibiotics are often self-administered to treat minor infections, despite the risks of antimicrobial resistance and adverse effects associated with inappropriate use.
“Similarly, antibiotics are often self-administered to treat minor infections, despite the risks of antimicrobial resistance and adverse effects associated with inappropriate use.31,39”
From Prevalence and patterns of self-medication practices in India: A systematic review and meta-analysis (2025) · cites this paper as [39]
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- Authors
- Pal, B., Murti, K., Gupta, A. K., Choudhury, U., Rastogi, M., Pandey, H., Lal, C. S., Pandey, K., & Das, P.
- Affiliations
- National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (IN)
- Rajendra Memorial National Institute of Health Research (IN)
- Institute of Medical Sciences (IN)
- Corresponding author
- Pandey, Krishna
- Venue
- American Medical Journal
- Publisher
- Science Publications
- Published
- 2016-02-01
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 7-12
- ISSN
- 1949-0070 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2587386515
- Cited by
- 18
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 3
- FWCI
- 1.40
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Current Research in Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology › Antibiotic Use and Resistance
- Life Sciences › Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics › Pharmacology › Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare
- Life Sciences › Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics › Pharmacology › Pharmacy and Medical Practices
- Keywords
- self-medication, antibiotic use, medical students, pharmacy students, self-diagnosis, fever, amoxicillin, adverse drug reactions, pharmacological knowledge, health professions education, North India
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