Self-medication among health staff: A cross sectional study of Kerman Province, Iran

There is a growing concern about the negative consequences of self-medication on communities. This is more important in healthcare workers who are assumed to be propagators of proper medication administration. This study focuses on self-medication status among health staff and its related factors. This cross-sectional study was performed on 400 employees who were selected through multistage sampling from a health center in Kerman, Southeast of Iran, in 2014. Data were collected through a self-report questionnaire, whose face, content, and construct validity (α=0.73) and test retest reliability were confirmed (Mean ICC=0.71 to 0.73). The questionnaire consists of demographic factors, the amount of physician visits when feeling ill or pain, influencing factors like subject’s knowledge and attitude toward self-medication, sources of drug supply for self-medication, information resources, and types of self-medication drugs. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics and Mann- Whitney and chi-square tests. More than 98% of the subjects had a history of self-medication. Most drugs used were analgesics (85.5%), herbal drugs and distillates (82.2%), and cough and cold medicines (82%), and the lowest consumed drugs included psychotropic (4%) and stimulant (4.8%) drugs. The most important related factors were health seeking behavior of staff in terms of amount of patient visits and past experience of self- medication. Selfmedication is prevalent among health system staff. Then, planning to prevent self-medication including strict regulation of OTC (over the counter) sale and exert greater oversight on pharmacies’ performance to control sell of unprescribed drug seems necessary.