Vacunaciones en atención primaria: nuevos aspectos de una vieja actividad / Primary care vaccination: new aspects of an old activity

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[A quality study of self-medication in acute respiratory infection in a population utilizing an urban health center]. / Estudio sobre la calidad de la automedicación en infección respiratoria aguda de la población demandante en un centro de salud urbano.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the quality of drugs use by patients when these were not prescribed by physicians. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey, observational. SETTING: La Victoria Health Centre in the urban area of Valladolid. PARTICIPANTS: A survey was made of all patients who consulted their family practitioner about an acute respiratory infection during a three month period. The patients were classified according to the seriousness of their diagnosis, the time elapsed before consulting the doctor, the kind of medication and the source of it was evaluated and also the quality of the prescription with relation to the source. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: 508 patients were studied, 61.4% women and 38.6% men, 57.9% of the total sample were on self-medication before they went to their physician (53.6% of men and 60.6% of women). The most common source of self-medication was "self-pharmacy" in the case of 59.9% and the kind of medication most commonly taken was the antipyretic-analgesic group (in 42.9% cases). The quality evaluation of self-medication was considered correct in 63% of self-medicated patients, no significant difference was found between the quality of self-medication and the source of it. CONCLUSIONS: The high prevalence of self-medication in the general population, with the high rates of accurate use and the small percentages of adverse drug reactions, would lead us to think about of promoting self-medication and including it in specific educational health programs.