Study reveals alarming patterns of self-treatment among medical professionals despite excellent knowledge.

In hospital corridors across Nigeria, an unusual form of medical consultation takes place daily. A nurse with persistent headaches asks a colleague for a quick opinion between shifts. A doctor phones a friend in another department to discuss worrying symptoms. A pharmacist self-prescribes antibiotics based on her own diagnosis, never formally consulting anyone.

These informal exchanges, whilst seeming harmless or even efficient, represent what researchers now identify as a serious problem affecting healthcare systems worldwide. Despite their extensive medical training, healthcare professionals frequently avoid proper medical care for themselves, relying instead on self-diagnosis, self-medication, and casual consultations that bypass standard clinical procedures.

New research from a major teaching hospital in Ekiti State, Nigeria, quantifies the scale of this phenomenon and explores why it persists even among those who best understand the risks involved.

The Numbers Tell a Worrying Story

The study, published in Critique Open Research and Review (COOR), surveyed 260 healthcare workers, including doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and laboratory staff, at a tertiary hospital. The findings paint a concerning picture of how medical professionals approach their own health.

More than four in ten healthcare workers, precisely 41.9%, exhibited what researchers classified as improper health-seeking behaviour. This means they avoided formal medical consultation, proper examination, or documented treatment when they fell ill.

The most common pattern was self-medication. Healthcare workers would diagnose themselves, often after minimal consideration, and prescribe treatments without undergoing the examinations or investigations they would insist upon for patients presenting with similar symptoms.

What makes these figures particularly striking is that the same healthcare workers demonstrated excellent knowledge of appropriate health-seeking behaviour. Over 81% scored well on questions assessing their understanding of when and how to seek proper medical care, the risks of self-medication, and the importance of formal diagnosis.

“This isn’t an education problem,” explains Dr Ogedengbe Ifedolapo Temitope, the study’s first author. “Healthcare workers know exactly what they should do. The question is why they don’t do it.”

The Young and the Reckless

Age emerged as a significant factor. Younger healthcare professionals showed substantially higher rates of improper health-seeking behaviour than their older colleagues.

This pattern contradicts what one might expect. Younger professionals, more recently trained and perhaps more familiar with current best practices, should theoretically exhibit better behaviour. Instead, they appeared more likely to skip formal consultations, rely on self-medication, and treat their own symptoms without proper assessment.

Several explanations seem plausible. Younger professionals may feel more invulnerable, underestimating health risks in ways that older colleagues, having witnessed more medical complications, do not. They may also feel greater pressure to prove their competence, viewing the need for medical care as somehow admitting weakness or inadequacy.

Financial pressures might also play a role. Early-career healthcare workers, often earning less and managing student debts, may be more reluctant to spend money on formal consultations even when health insurance is available.

Gender patterns also appeared. Male healthcare workers showed higher odds of improper health-seeking behaviour than female staff, suggesting that professional culture around health and help-seeking may differ between men and women even within the medical field.

When Work Becomes the Barrier

Workload emerged as one of the strongest predictors of poor health-seeking behaviour. Healthcare workers reporting very high workload were significantly more likely to engage in self-medication and informal consultation than those with more manageable schedules.

The mechanism seems straightforward. When you work 12-hour shifts managing critically ill patients, finding time to book an appointment, sit in a waiting room, and undergo examination feels nearly impossible. The practical barriers to seeking care increase precisely as the stress and health risks from overwork also increase.

Long working hours compounded the problem. Healthcare workers putting in extended shifts struggled to arrange formal consultations, particularly when those would need to occur during working hours. Taking time off for a medical appointment when your ward is short-staffed feels selfish, even when rationally you know that neglecting your health serves no one.

“The system creates impossible choices,” notes Samuel Sam Danladi, Department of Public Health, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, a co-author. “Healthcare workers are told their health matters, but the operational reality is that patient care takes precedence over everything, including the health of those providing that care.”

This creates a vicious cycle. Overworked staff neglect their health, leading to illness that eventually forces absence from work, which places even greater pressure on remaining staff, who then feel even less able to take time for their own health needs.

The Psychology of Professional Invulnerability

Beyond practical barriers, psychological factors appeared to drive poor health-seeking behaviour. Many healthcare workers seemed to operate with what researchers call “perceived invulnerability,” an unconscious belief that their medical knowledge somehow protects them from the health problems affecting others.

This manifests in various ways. Symptoms that would prompt immediate concern in a patient get rationalised as minor or stress-related when they appear in oneself. Warning signs that would trigger urgent investigation in clinical practice get dismissed as probably nothing when experienced personally.

Healthcare workers also exhibited what might be called “professional override,” where their identity as medical experts interfered with their ability to be good patients. Seeking formal care involves role reversal, becoming vulnerable rather than authoritative, uncertain rather than knowledgeable. For professionals whose identity centres on medical competence, this reversal feels uncomfortable or even threatening.

The study found that many healthcare workers preferred informal consultations precisely because they maintained professional boundaries. A corridor conversation with a colleague feels different from sitting in a consultation room being examined. The former preserves professional status whilst the latter requires surrendering it temporarily.

The Confidentiality Problem

Privacy concerns emerged as another significant barrier to proper health-seeking behaviour. Healthcare workers worried about confidentiality when seeking care from colleagues or within their own institutions.

These concerns have foundation. In hospital environments where professional reputations matter and social networks are dense, maintaining privacy about health conditions can be challenging. Healthcare workers feared that formal consultation might become common knowledge among colleagues, potentially affecting professional relationships or career prospects.

The problem intensifies for stigmatised conditions. Mental health issues, substance abuse problems, sexually transmitted infections, or any condition that might be judged by colleagues create particular reluctance to seek formal care within one’s own institution.

Some healthcare workers reported seeking care outside their own hospitals specifically to protect privacy. However, this requires additional time, travel, and effort, creating yet another barrier to appropriate health-seeking behaviour.

The research suggests that confidentiality protections for healthcare workers seeking care may need strengthening. Clear policies ensuring privacy, perhaps including access to care outside one’s immediate work environment, might encourage more appropriate health-seeking behaviour.

The Insurance Factor

One finding offered some optimism. Healthcare workers enrolled in health insurance schemes showed significantly lower rates of improper health-seeking behaviour than those without coverage.

This suggests that reducing financial barriers encourages proper care-seeking even among medical professionals. When formal consultation involves out-of-pocket costs, it creates additional disincentive alongside time pressures and psychological factors.

The implication is clear. Ensuring comprehensive health insurance for all healthcare workers could improve not just their theoretical access to care but their actual use of appropriate health services.

In the Nigerian context, where many healthcare workers lack comprehensive coverage despite working in the health system, this finding has particular relevance. Extending insurance coverage might represent a relatively straightforward intervention with measurable impact.

Cultural Context

The research took place in Nigeria, where healthcare system challenges are well documented. Limited resources, high patient loads, and infrastructure constraints characterise many facilities.

However, international research suggests the patterns identified are not unique to Nigeria or low-resource settings. Studies from the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, and Australia have all documented similar tendencies among healthcare professionals to neglect their own health and engage in self-medication.

What varies across contexts is the relative importance of different factors. In some settings, workload dominates. In others, financial constraints or cultural attitudes toward help-seeking play larger roles.

The Nigerian context may amplify certain challenges, particularly around workload and resource constraints. But the fundamental psychology of healthcare workers avoiding proper care for themselves appears universal, suggesting that solutions need to address both contextual factors and deeper professional culture.

What Self-Medication Really Means

The study’s focus on self-medication deserves emphasis. This isn’t simply about healthcare workers taking paracetamol for headaches or using over-the-counter medications for minor ailments. That kind of self-care is reasonable and expected.

The concern is about healthcare workers diagnosing themselves with conditions requiring prescription medications, writing their own prescriptions, or treating symptoms that would warrant investigation in any other patient without proper assessment.

This carries several risks. Self-diagnosis can miss serious conditions, particularly when cognitive biases lead professionals to rationalise away concerning symptoms. Self-prescribed treatments may be inappropriate, inadequate, or mask underlying problems. The lack of documentation means no medical records exist if complications develop or if the condition proves more serious than initially assumed.

Perhaps most troubling, self-medication can enable healthcare workers to continue working when they should be resting or receiving treatment. This not only risks their own health but potentially compromises patient safety if illness affects their judgement, concentration, or technical skills.

Systemic Consequences

The research emphasises that this is not merely an individual health issue. When significant proportions of healthcare staff engage in improper health-seeking behaviour, systemic consequences follow.

Quality of patient care may suffer when healthcare workers are unwell but continuing to work. Research consistently shows that sick, stressed, or burnt-out healthcare professionals make more errors, communicate less effectively with patients, and provide lower-quality care.

Staffing becomes more problematic when minor health issues that could have been addressed early develop into serious conditions requiring extended absence. A nurse who ignores persistent symptoms for months may eventually need weeks or months off work, creating staffing gaps that affect entire departments.

Public health messaging loses credibility when healthcare workers are known to engage in exactly the behaviours they advise patients against. If doctors don’t seek proper medical care, why should anyone else?

Workplace culture suffers when neglecting personal health becomes normalised or even valorised as dedication to patients. This contributes to burnout, job dissatisfaction, and ultimately higher turnover among healthcare staff.

Paths Forward

The research team proposes several interventions to address these patterns.

Workplace policies need to explicitly support healthcare workers seeking proper medical care. This might include protected time for appointments, clear processes for accessing care without professional stigma, and leadership that models appropriate behaviour.

Workload and scheduling require fundamental attention. When staff face such intense pressure that basic self-care becomes impossible, the problem lies with organisational practices rather than individual choices.

Confidentiality protections should be strengthened, perhaps including access to care outside immediate work environments with guaranteed privacy.

Health insurance coverage should be comprehensive and universal for healthcare workers, removing financial barriers to appropriate care.

Professional education might incorporate behavioural science insights about cognitive biases, professional identity, and decision-making under pressure, helping future healthcare workers recognise and counteract tendencies toward poor health-seeking behaviour.

The Broader Question

The study raises fundamental questions about how healthcare systems treat their own workforce. If health systems cannot ensure that healthcare workers receive appropriate medical care, what does this say about institutional priorities and values?

“We ask healthcare workers to care for others whilst systematically creating conditions that prevent them from caring for themselves,” argues Dr Ulunma Ikwuoma Mariere from the Department of Community Medicine and Public Health, Federal Medical Centre, Bayelsa. “That’s not sustainable ethically, professionally, or practically. Something has to change.”

Whether health systems will prioritise workforce health remains uncertain. The pressures driving current patterns, particularly around staffing levels and workload, reflect deeper resource constraints and policy choices that extend well beyond any single institution.

But the evidence is clear. The health of healthcare workers matters not just for them as individuals but for the quality, safety, and sustainability of healthcare systems. Addressing the gap between what healthcare professionals know and what they actually do about their own health represents an urgent priority.

“Healthcare workers are the foundation of health systems,” concludes Dr Kennedy Oberhiri Obohwemu, Senior Researcher and Project Coordinator of PENKUP Research Institute. “Protecting their health isn’t just about individual wellbeing. It’s about sustaining the workforce that communities depend on. We need evidence-based approaches that address not just knowledge but the behavioural and systemic factors that shape how healthcare professionals care for themselves.”

About the Study

The research, “Knowledge and Cognitive Determinants of Health-Seeking Behaviour Among Healthcare Professionals in a Nigerian Tertiary Hospital: A Behavioural Science Perspective,” appears in Critique Open Research and Review (COOR), Volume 4, Issue 1. The study was conducted by researchers from various Nigerian institutions with support from PENKUP Research Institute in Birmingham, UK.