Knowledge General Medicine, Knowledge of Paracetamol, Paracetamol use Behaviors, and Factors Associated Rational Paracetamol Use among Thai Patients at Subdistrict Health Promotion Hospital, Mueang Khon Kaen District, Khon Kaen Province
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Abstract
Irrational medicine use leads to public health issues in both Thai and global settings as it can cause effect on population health. Objectives: To study the knowledge of general medicine, knowledge of paracetamol, behavior of using paracetamol, and the factors associated with rational paracetamol use among Thai patients. Methods: A total of 247 patients from six subdistrict health promotion hospitals in Khon Kaen participated in this study. Structured questionnaires were used to collect data from December 15, 2024, to January 31, 2025. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression were used to analyze data. Results: Most of the respondents were female aged between 18-73. Of 10 scores, mean knowledge score of general medicine was 7.94 (SD=1.91), and 65.59% of them had sufficient knowledge. The mean knowledge score of Paracetamol was 6.23 (SD=1.92) and 29.15% of them showed sufficient knowledge. In terms of behaviors, of 8 scores, the mean score of behaviors of rational paracetamol use was 5.41 (SD=2.18) and 53.0% of them showed behaviors of rational paracetamol use. The factors significantly associated with rational paracetamol use included the main source of medicines (aOR =4.44, 95%CI=1.40-20.98, p = 0.014), general knowledge of medicines (aOR =2.02, 95%CI=1.09-3.76, p = 0.026), and knowledge of paracetamol (aOR =3.48, 95%CI=1.93-6.28, p < 0.001). Conclusion: Although more than half of the patients showed behaviors of rational paracetamol use and had sufficient knowledge of general medicines, the knowledge of paracetamol was insufficient. Patients who received medicines from both drug stores and private hospitals tended to use paracetamol rationally than those who received medicines from the government hospitals. Moreover, patients who had sufficient general knowledge of medicines were more likely to use medicines rationally than those who had lower knowledge. According to the associated factors, the main source of medicines and knowledge level of medicines, these can be a threshold for developing plans to promote rational medicine use, providing effective medication counselling, developing skills for general medicine and paracetamol use, including promoting activities that strengthen rational medicine use.
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