Profile Pic of Mediterranean Journal Of Pharmacy And Pharmaceutical Sciences Mediterranean Journal Of Pharmacy And Pharmaceutical Sciences

Prevalence of self-medication phenomenon with antibiotics among university pharmacy students

  • Authors Details :  
  • Ghada L. Elkbuli,  
  • Rogaia A. Draidi

866 Views Research reports

Self-medication with antibiotics is becoming a trend that threats the health systems worldwide through developing bacterial resistance which is associated with high health care costs and increased rate of morbidity and mortality. The main objective of this study is to assess antibiotic self-medication practice among Libyan university pharmacy students. This is a cross-sectional study conducted among pharmacy students at Sabratha University in the western region of Libya. A validated questionnaire was used to collect relevant data which were statistically analyzed. A total of 170 undergraduate Pharmacy students participated in the study during spring 2021. About 80% of the participants reported the use of antibiotics without consulting a physician. The major reason for using antibiotics was to get a quick relief of emergency conditions which was reported by 35% of the students. About 25% of the students used antibiotics to relieve their pains and aches. The most commonly used antibiotic was amoxicillin (55%). Most antibiotics were obtained over the counter from community pharmacies (85%). Half of the participants were not sure if they can advise patients to use antibiotics without a prescription, although 60% of them believed that it was good practice. In conclusion, prevalence of antibiotic self-medication among university pharmacy undergraduate students is high. Thus, serious interventions are required to ensure safe and effective use of antibiotics among the population in Libya.

Article DOI & Crossmark Data

DOI : https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5805961

Article Subject Details


Article Keywords Details



Article File

Full Text PDF



More Article by Mediterranean Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

The perspective of covid-19 vaccines

The current covid-19 is now endemic on everycontinent and becomes the most challenging outbreaks over centuries, thus millions of people have been infected with the novel coronavir...

Mokhtar r. haman: a dedication to his memory

It is with more sorrow and tremendous sadness we remember the death of our colleague the libyan pharmacist, professor mokhtar ramadan haman, at his home in tripoli, libya after lon...

In silico studies of 2-(4-(aminomethyl)phenyl)isoindoline-1,3-dione schiff base derivatives as potential inhibitors against main protease covid-19 enzyme

The 2019 coronavirus (covid-19) pandemic is spreading worldwide, with a spectacular increase in death missing any effective therapeutic treatment up to now. molecular docking is a ...

Phytochemical screening and structure elucidation of isolated compounds from convolvulus dorycnium plant originated from west of libya

Plants are an ancient source of medicine due to the presence of bioactive molecules of various compounds in their different parts. convolvulus dorycnium plant belongs to the family...