Aim:This study was designed to determine the proportion of general out patients who practice self medication, the drugs employed and the reasons for resorting to self medication.Methodology:This study was conducted between June and December, 2007 at the General Outpatient Clinic of the Federal Medical Centre, Owo, Ondo State, Nigeria. Two hundred consenting respondents were selected by simple random sampling and interviewed with the aid of semi structured questionnaire by the authors with three assistants. Information regarding their bio-data, history of self medication, drugs used and the reasons for resorting to self medication were obtained.Results:Majority of the respondents (85%) admitted to self medication while the remaining proportion (15%) did not practice it. Drugs utilized could be single, usually analgesics (26.5%) and anti-malaria (15.9%) or in combinations, usually antimalaria-analgesics (22.4%), antimalariaanalgesic- antibiotic (15.3%) and antibiotic-analgesic (10.0%). The reasons cited by respondents for self medication were their perception of their complaints been minor enough to be amenable to self medication (54.7%) and financial constraint (22.4%).Conclusion:Majority of the respondents practiced self medication using an array of drugs like analgesics, anti-malaria and antibiotics used either singly or in combination. The main reasons identified for self medication were that the ailments were minor and financial constraint.

Purpose:The aim of this study reports the level of awareness and knowledge of glaucoma among selected health care personnel at a health institution in southwestern Nigeria.Materials and Methods:Health personnel at the Federal Medical Centre, Owo, Nigeria, a tertiary health care institution were stratified into a clinical and an administrative directorate. One-hundred twenty participants were selected from each directorate by a random sampling technique. A structured questionnaire was used to collect sociodemographic data and data on the level of knowledge and awareness of glaucoma. Statistical analyses included the independent t-test and Pearson's chi-square test for categorical variables. Statistical significance was indicated by P < 0.05.Results:From the target population of 240 participants, 216 (98 males; 118 females) completed the questionnaire. The mean age of the participants was 35.07 ± 07 years. A total of 148 (68.6%) participants had heard of glaucoma comprising all participants from the clinical directorate and 28 participants from the administrative directorate. There was no statistically significant difference between the clinical and administrative directorates about the knowledge of the aspect of vision that is first affected by glaucoma, the painless nature of glaucoma among most Africans and the irreversible nature of glaucoma-related blindness (P > 0.05, all comparisons).Conclusion:There is the need to update the knowledge base of these workers if they are to be useful in propagating information of the irreversible blindness that could arise from delay in glaucoma diagnosis and treatment.

Our study respondents regarded research highly but were severely constrained in conducting research by lack of access to sources of funding from within and outside Nigeria and finding time from core hospital functions. We recommend periodic (re)training in research particularly on how to apply for research grants and giving some protected research time for Nigerian medical specialists in order to boost their research function.

Most respondents were satisfied with their job, but only minorities were satisfied with their remuneration. Therefore, there is a need to address the issue of enhancement of remuneration for ophthalmologists in Nigeria.

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