PRACTICE OF SELF - MEDICATION WITH ANTIBIOTICS AMONG BASIC MEDICAL SCIENCE STUDENTS OF A NIGERIAN TERTIARY INSTITUTION

Increased irrational use of antibiotics without medical guidelines has resulted to a great incidence of absurd and incorrect therapy, development of resistance, treatment failure and high mortality rate. An investigation among tertiary institution is therefore important because this population constitutes a segment of the society that is highly educated and vast in knowledge and more importantly, it is useful to students in the health related faculties who would represent the future generation of drug prescribers and health educationist. A cross-sectional survey was carried out among Basic Medical Science students in Delta State University, Abraka, to assess the practice of self-medication with antibiotics. A total of 220 students were assessed using a simple frequency method and percentage in data analyses. The distribution showed that majority of the students 91 (41%) were between the ages of 21-23; twenty-seven (27%) of the student were males and while 73% were females. More than half of the students agreed to have practiced self-medication with antibiotics, and see it as an acceptable practice. Amoxicillin was the most commonly used antibiotics (26.4%), with the pharmacy as the major source of procurement. This study showed that antibiotic self-medication is rampant and seen as an acceptable practice.