Awareness of Rational Medication Use and Antibiotic Self- Medication Practices among Undergraduate Students in a University in Sri Lanka

Purpose: To evaluate the practice of self-medication and evaluate the knowledge of rational use of antibiotics among undergraduate students of University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.
Method: A cross-sectional, recall study was conducted among the university student population who practice self-medication in the study location. Stratified, random sampling technique was used to distribute 246 questionnaires in eight faculties of the institution. The response rate was 71%, and 175 completed questionnaires were analyzed to determine significant differences and correlation with different variables.
Results: A majority of the study sample were females (54%), aged 23 - 25 years (46.9%). The most frequently used antibiotic was amoxicillin (95.4%). Common cold with fever was the disease condition treated by a large majority (84.9%). Knowledge on dose, frequency, duration and side-effects of antibiotics among students was moderate, with a mean value of 58.3%. There was a significant difference in knowledge on antibiotics between health science and non-health science students although no significant difference was observed in knowledge with respect to gender, academic year and family income.
Conclusion: Antibiotic consumption was associated with students’ academic background. This study highlights the need for interventions to assure rational use of antibiotics.

Keywords
Antibiotics; Self-medication; Rational use; Undergraduate students; Awareness