Auta Asa, Omale Simeon, Folorunsho Temitope J, David Shalkur, Banwat Samuel B
Department of Clinical Pharmacy, University of Jos, Jos, Nigeria.
N Am J Med Sci. 2012 Jan;4(1):24-8. doi: 10.4103/1947-2714.92899.
Medicine vendors fill the gap created by inadequate skilled professionals required for medicine procurement, storage, and distribution in developing countries.
To evaluate self-medication practice and medicine knowledge among medicine vendors and to determine if a relationship exists between both.
A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted, using a pretested questionnaire on 236 medicine vendors in Jos, Nigeria, sampled through a two-stage stratified design. Data collected were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 16, and the chi-square test was used to determine the association between variables.
Self-medication was common (75.4%) among respondents and was not associated (P>0.05) with any of the demographic characteristics studied. The classes of medicines commonly used by respondents for self-medication were analgesics (31.4%), anti-malarials (22.6%), multivitamins (17.7%), and antibiotics (11.25%). A knowledge assessment test revealed that only 34.3% of the respondents had adequate knowledge. There was no significant (P>0.05) relationship between self-medication practice and medicine knowledge, among the respondents. However, the medicine knowledge scores were significantly (P<0.05) associated with holding a certificate in health sciences, years of experience, and the place of practice of the medicine vendors.
The present study demonstrated that self-medication practice was high and inadequate medicine knowledge existed among respondents.
在发展中国家，药品供应商填补了药品采购、储存和分发所需专业技术人员不足所造成的缺口。
评估药品供应商的自我药疗行为和药品知识，并确定两者之间是否存在关联。
采用描述性横断面研究，通过两阶段分层设计对尼日利亚乔斯市的236名药品供应商进行抽样，并使用预先测试的问卷进行调查。收集的数据使用社会科学统计软件包第16版进行分析，采用卡方检验确定变量之间的关联。
自我药疗在受访者中很常见（75.4%），且与所研究的任何人口统计学特征均无关联（P>0.05）。受访者自我药疗常用的药品类别为镇痛药（31.4%）、抗疟药（22.6%）、多种维生素（17.7%）和抗生素（11.25%）。知识评估测试显示，只有34.3%的受访者有足够的知识。在受访者中，自我药疗行为与药品知识之间无显著关联（P>0.05）。然而，药品知识得分与拥有健康科学证书、工作年限以及药品供应商的执业地点显著相关（P<0.05）。
本研究表明，受访者的自我药疗行为普遍，且药品知识不足。
