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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Drugs Outcomes Research and Policies
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2024.1413811

Self-medication of adults and children in Poland -results from outpatient health care physicians online questionnaire

Provisionally accepted
Karolina Kłoda Karolina Kłoda 1Mateusz Babicki Mateusz Babicki 2Aleksander Biesiada Aleksander Biesiada 3Małgorzata Gałązka-Sobotka Małgorzata Gałązka-Sobotka 4Iwona Kowalska-Bobko Iwona Kowalska-Bobko 5*Agnieszka Mastalerz-Migas Agnieszka Mastalerz-Migas 3
  • 1 MEDFIT, Szczecin, Poland
  • 2 Wroclaw Medical University, Wrocław, Silesian, Poland
  • 3 Polish Society of Family Medicine, Wroclaw, Poland
  • 4 Institute of Healthcare Management, Lazarski University, Warsaw, Masovian, Poland
  • 5 Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kraków, Poland

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    In Poland, the area of self-medication requires scientific and organizational evaluation. So far, no solutions sanctioning self-medication have been introduced. Therefore, the aim of this study was to recognize and analyze the practical experience of outpatient physicians regarding self-medication of their patients, as well as self-medication of children by their caregivers.This study enrolled 386 participants and used a Computer-Assisted Web Interview (CAWI) that was disseminated online from 4th of July 2023 to 23rd of August 2023. The survey was addressed to outpatient healthcare physicians working in Poland.In doctors' perspective the main three reasons for choosing self-medication in Poland were: taking advice from other people -family members or friends (59.1%), finding information regarding treatment online (52.9%) and ability to self-medicate in this kind of symptoms/disease (51.6%). Among adult patients, in 72.1% of cases, an independent decision to start antibiotic therapy was made. Such a decision occurred in 39.8% of pediatric patients. Children caregivers were more likely to visit the physician immediately with symptoms than in the case of adult patients (42.2% vs 22.1%, p<0.001).Self-medication in Poland requires educational and organizational support at various levels -both social (information campaigns, school education), the health care system (increasing the role of medical professionals, including pharmacists), and finally in the area of legislation. Two areas seem to be particularly alarming -the use of antibiotics by adults and children and the mental health of both populations.

    Keywords: family medicine, GP, OTC, Primary Care, self-medication

    Received: 17 Apr 2024; Accepted: 24 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Kłoda, Babicki, Biesiada, Gałązka-Sobotka, Kowalska-Bobko and Mastalerz-Migas. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Iwona Kowalska-Bobko, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kraków, Poland

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.