Abstract
Background: Scheduled drugs are also purchased without prescriptions, which is a cause for concern. Educational status is an important determinant of self-medication. Student drug use surveys provide an essential source of information about the prevalence and frequency of drug use, associated harms, socio-demographic correlates, and identification of high-risk groups in a youth population. Self-medication is more common among medical students because of easy access to drug information and drugs.

Aims and Objective: The present study was undertaken to identify the patterns of self-medication among medical students.

Materials and Methods: The study was carried out among medical students studying in the Shridevi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Hospital, Tumkur, by questionnaire-based interview.

Results: Among 267 students interviewed, 66.8% took self-medications, 24.6% followed the prescriptions. The number of students using self-medications was significantly higher (P < 0.05). Monotherapy was more among students taking medicines without medical advice (83.15%), whereas polytherapy was more common among prescription medication users (83.33%). There was a significant difference between the number of students reporting satisfaction with self-medication and prescription use.

Conclusion: Self-medication among medical students was significantly higher, but the outcome was unsatisfactory to them.

Key words: Drug Utilization; Self-medication; Prescription Medication