Análisis de la automedicación en pacientes que acuden a las farmacias comunitarias del barrio La Universal, Ambato

Abstract

The objective of the research project was to analyze self-medication in patients who attend community pharmacies in la Universal neighborhood, Ambato, during the period November 2022- January 2023, through a quantitative, observational, descriptive and non-experimental study. The instrument used was a survey with questions that were validated by health professionals, in such a way that, through the formula of finite populations, it was obtained that the total number of people to be surveyed was 220, who came to request medicines without a medical prescription to the pharmacies of interest, of both sexes aged 18 years and older. Excel spreadsheets were used to compile the data obtained and the statistical software SPSS for further analysis and interpretation of results. It was evidenced in the results that the population between 26 and 40 years old were the people who self-medicated the most (43.1 8%), in addition the sex with the highest prevalence was female (64.09%). The main reason for resorting to self-medication was that they know the symptoms they have and know what they should take. It was concluded that the main groups of medications consumed most frequently in the surveyed population were: analgesics (33.64%), anti-flu (17.27%), vitamins (10.45%), antibiotics (8.64%), oral or injectable contraceptives (4.55), antidiarrheals (4.55%), others (20.91%). At the end, health education (triptych) was performed for the users who went to the community pharmacies, addressing topics such as self-medication and its consequences of the main groups of identified drugs and prevention measures in order to reduce this practice. It is recommended that at the level of community pharmacies there be personnel with technical knowledge such as a Pharmaceutical Biochemist in order to guarantee adequate dispensing of medicines and adherence to treatments by the patient.