Practice of self-care and self-medications among government health care providers

Aim: To identify the self-screening and periodic health check-up practice among government health personnel. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out among qualified allopathic government doctors regarding self-care practices like measuring of blood pressure, blood sugar estimation, visiting dentist , breast self-examination and undergoing cancer cervix screening and self-medication practices. Results: Among the 52 subjects who took part in the study, majority of the study subjects [n=21, 40.4%] said that they got their blood sugar examined once in 12 months at least, more than 90% of the study subjects got their blood pressure checked once in a year or more [n=49, 94.2%] and majority had rarely visited the dentist [n=27, 51.9%]. Among the 15 female subjects, majority did breast self-examination [BSE] done at least once in a year or more [n=45, 86.5%] but majority said that they rarely [n=10, 66.7%] underwent screening for cancer cervix screening in their lifetime. Regarding self-medication, all study subjects said that had self-medicated and when sick, majority said that they rarely [n=37, 71.2%] consulted another doctor, majority said that they have rarely [n=19, 36.5%] practiced isolation when sick with infectious disease and have sometimes gone to work when sick [n=26, 50%]. Conclusion: There is need for improving knowledge of self-care and self-medication among medical practitioners, which will influence their attitudes, behaviours toward personal and patient level screening. A self-care workbook for doctors can be developed with on-going training, support and evaluation. Keywords: Self-care, Self-medication, Health personnel, Cross sectional.