Navigating the Medication Maze: A Study on Self-Medication Practices Among Nurses in Public and Private Hospitals of Multan, Pakistan

Abstract

The study aimed to analyze gender disparity in self-medication practices among nurses in private and public hospitals across diverse departments and assess personal and professional factors driving self-medication. The study followed a Cross-sectional Quantitative research design. The respondents were male and female nurses aged 18-50 from Public and Private Hospitals in Multan. Using a multistage sampling method, two public and two private hospitals were selected through simple random sampling from a pool of 16 hospitals in Multan City. One hundred fifty respondents were selected using purposive sampling, specifically targeting nurses actively doing their jobs. The data was gathered by survey method using a self-administered structured questionnaire, which included specific constructs measured using a 5-point Likert scale that ranged from strongly agree to disagree strongly. Univariate analysis, i.e., frequencies and percentages, was conducted using SPSS. A bivariate study used an Independent Sample t-test to ascertain the mean difference between two variables, specifically gender and hospital type. As part of the multivariate analysis, Multiple Linear Regression was used to determine the effect of different professional and personal factors on self-medication practice. ANOVA was applied to analyze the variance in self-medication practices among nurses posted at different departments. Most nurses practice self-medication for various diseases, with private hospital nurses being more interested than government nurses, and female nurses practicing self-medication more than males. Professional and personal factors had a significant impact on self-medication practices. Findings suggested that nurses should be educated about health literacy, coping methods, and self-medication behaviors to create a supportive environment for open discussions and monitoring procedures.