Saudi school students’ knowledge, attitude and practice toward medicines

The current study was aimed to assess Saudi school students’ knowledge, attitude and practice about medicines. A pretested self-administered questionnaire was used anonymously among 15–20 year-old adolescents attending tertiary schools in Taif City, KSA. A total of 1022 students completed the questionnaires. Only 15.4% of the respondents knew the medicines’ uses. Most of the students 79.6% affirmed that they used to take medicines after consulting physicians, and 45.1% of the students thought that tablet size affects the medicine’s efficacy. More than half of the students knew that high temperatures affect the efficacy of medicines, there was a significant difference between rural and urban areas (P = 0.005). Physicians (50.6%) and community pharmacists (15.7%), were the main students’ reliable sources of information about medicines. The majority of the students 70.5% were interested in learning more about medicines. The younger students 618 years wish to learn more than the older ones (P 0.014). The study showed that Saudi school students aged 15–20 years old have poor knowledge, misconception and negative attitudes about medicines. Low level of knowledge may expose adolescents to health-related problems. Educational efforts are important to improve students’ practice toward medicines.