Abstract

Objective: It was aimed to examine the nursing students’ behavior and level of knowledge about rational medication use and the contribution of online peer education to the level of knowledge on rational drug use.

Method: This experimental study has a descriptive and single-group pretest-posttest pattern. Student trainers provided online training to their peers. The data collection form (41 questions) and the Rational Medication Use Knowledge Scale (21 questions) were used in the study. ANOVA, t-test, post hoc, and regression analyzes were used.

Results: More than half of the students (59.1%) had previous knowledge of rational medication use. Self-medication (53.0%) and herbal medicine instead of medicine (64.4%) were common among the participants. After training, there was a significant increase between the pretest knowledge score (35.09±5.18) and the posttest knowledge score (37.10±3.64) (p<0.05). Those who do not use medication on advice (4.2 times) and those who know about side effects (3.9 times) had more rational medication use knowledge (-2 log-likelihood: 106.20; Cox & Snell R Square: 0.098; Nagelkerke R Square: 0.148; p: 0.000).

Conclusion: One-third of the students have irrational medication use behavior. Although peer education increases knowledge, it is important to include continuous, and follow-up peer education in the long term.