Automedicación en la pandemia Covid-19

Abstract

Introduction: Self-medication is a frequent habit in individuals who, on their own, choose to ingest medications without medical prescription, to alleviate their ailments or mild conditions. It increased during the COVID- 19 pandemic to prevent and manage signs and symptoms of this disease. Methodology: Narrative bibliographic research was conducted by searching scientific articles on the scientific base Web of Science, Scopus, Pubmed, ProQuest, Taylor & Francis, Scielo, Redalyc, and Researchgate, reaching 47 field articles, in addition to a guide published by the Ministry of Public Health of Ecuador, a manual of the Pharmacovigilance Association of Colombia, and two digital books between the years 2017-2022. Results and discussion: the analysis of several articles showed that the percentage of self-medication reached between 23.3% and 71.40% during the pandemic. It ranged between 32.5% and 81.5% before the pandemic, causing an overdose, gastrointestinal complications, and insomnia. The most consumed drugs were: analgesics, antibiotics, and vitamin supplements. Conclusions: This practice increased worldwide because of the ease of access to medication through pharmacies as a form of prevention, increasing self-medication. Nursing personnel plays a vital role in providing education on self-medication, decreasing unsupervised consumption of certain drugs through promotion, and safe prevention in times of pandemic.