Health Commun.  2018 Dec;13(2):185-193. 10.15715/kjhcom.2018.13.2.185.

Knowledge and Attitude about Drugs and the Current Status of Self-medication of Nursing Students

Affiliations
  • 1Professor, Department of nursing, Kyungnam University, Republic of Korea. augmentin@naver.com
  • 2Student, Department of nursing, Kyungnam University, Republic of Korea.

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Nursing college students are exposed to information about diseases or drugs, and are likely to have a distorted perception of drug knowledge or behavior. The study aimed to identify knowledge and attitude about drugs and current status of self-medication among nursing students.
METHODS
The subjects were 172 nursing students from a university in Busan. Data were collected with structured questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive analysis, t-test, and one-way ANOVA using SPSS 23.0.
RESULTS
Nursing students had a high level of knowledge about drugs, but attitudes toward drugs were relatively low. 83.7% of patients had experience of self-medication. The methods to acquire information for self-administration were 29.9% by smart phone and 27.1% by internet. The use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) among self-medication drugs was the highest. The most common reason for self-medication was "˜I thought it to be a mild disease', and the pharmacists were the most affected by choice of self-medication. The knowledge about drugs was statistically significant according to grade, school life satisfaction and subjective health status. The attitudes about medication were statistically significant according to grade and self-medication experience.
CONCLUSION
Nursing college students need drug safety education to improve awareness and practice of correct drug use.

Keyword

Nursing; Knowledge; Attitude; Drug

MeSH Terms

Busan
Diagnostic Self Evaluation
Education
Humans
Internet
Nursing*
Pharmacists
Smartphone
Students, Nursing*
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