Vanditha .S1, Mamatha J.1, Sabitha V. Janardhanan2 , Princy Louis Palatty1
1Department of Pharmacology, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Health Sciences Campus, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi - 682 041 Kerala, India
2Amrita School of Nursing, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Kochi - 682 041 Kerala, India
*Address for Corresponding author
Dr. Princy Louis Palatty
Professor and HOD, Department of Pharmacology,
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Health Sciences Campus,
Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi - 682 041 Kerala, India
Abstract
Objective: Health care students are thought to have sound scientific basis for health care delivery and for this reason, the study was undertaken to determine the knowledge, frequency and attitude towards the use of home remedies as medicine for the symptom management of minor health complaints. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire study was conducted among second year medical, dental and nursing students of our institution. An endogenous, validated Google form with 20 item questionnaire was developed. A total of 364 students were send the Google form out of which 348 (95.60%) students participated in the survey. Data collection was done through online plat form via Google form after taking approval from ethics committee. Results: From the 96.26% of students who used home remedies, 78.7% students are aware that, home remedies can be used as medicine for treating minor illnesses. 56.1% of students used home remedies for relief of symptoms of minor illness followed by disease prevention (20.5%) and health promotion (20.5%). Safety aspect of home remedies was known to 71.7% of the students. Home remedies are believed to be safe alternative to modern medicine in treating minor illness by 90.4% of the students. Use of home remedies for cosmetic purposes accounts for 78.73% (274) of the students and 94.1 % of the students wish to know more about home remedies. Conclusion: Health education on self medication and use of home remedies and the problems with their usage should be included in the curriculum of the health care students. Adequate knowledge about the use of home remedies should be given from an authentic source to health care students for Holistic and effective therapy. Improved knowledge and awareness about home remedies may result in rationale use and cost effective therapy.
Keywords: Home remedies, relief of symptoms, minor illnesses
