[Self-medication and health academic staff]

As self-medication is a worldwide problem of public health, this article had as objective to evaluate the behavior of the future health professionals with regard to the drug utilization, particularly, to the self-medication practice. 223 academic students from a public university in Recife City were interviewed, selected by proportional share in each course. A questionnaire on the drug utilization was applied, 15 days before the interview. From the 223 students, 65.5% reported drug use in the last 15 days. 42.3% used drugs through the physician's prescription and 57.7% through the self-medication. The most used drugs were the analgesics (24.0%) and vitamins (18.9%) and the main reason was pain (30.5%). The drug utilization among academic students in Recife City is high but it is inside the parameter according to others analysis. However we have expected a low and more rationalized utilization.