Abstract
Objective: To identify the factors associated with the practice of self-medication by nursing students and professional nurses. Methods: Integrative literature review, conducted from August to November 2019, at the Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) and Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature (LILACS), Database in Nursing (BDENF) via Virtual Health Library (VHL). Results: Some factors related to self-medication are at risk for choosing this practice, namely: work overload and lack of time to seek medical consultation. Of the 9 articles analyzed in the final sample, stress corresponded to 27%, overload and lack of time accounted for 18% respectively, and knowledge about medications corresponded to 37% of the social factors highlighted in the study. Among the most consumed drugs are analgesics (34%), antidepressants (24%), antipyretics (14%), contraceptives (14%) and antibiotics (14%). Final considerations: It is intended that the study subsidizes promotion actions with this specific population, as well as the development of other studies on the subject. The main limitation of the study was the scarcity of original studies aimed at nursing professionals and students.