Knowledge and perceptions of pharmacy students towards training in complementary and alternative health care

Ilse Truter

doi:10.4102/hsag.v10i2.191

Abstract

Complementary and Alternative Health Care (CAHC) is the primary source of health care for over 70% of the world’s population.  Opsomming Komplementêre en Alternatiewe Gesondheidsorg (KAG) is die hoofbron van gesondheidsorg vir meer as 70% van die wêreld se bevolking.  *Please note: This is a reduced version of the abstract. Please refer to PDF for full text.

Highlights

The surge in interest in Complementary and Alternative Health Care (CAHC) is well documented in many Western countries and it is the primary source of health care for over 70% of the world’s population (Ernst, Pittler, Stevinson & White, 2001:ix)
The term “Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)” is used at University of Port Elizabeth (UPE)/NMMU and the same terminology will be used when reporting on the results of the study
The researcher acknowledges that Complementary and Alternative Health Care (CAHC) may be a more descriptive term for possible future use especially if the international literature changes from using CAM to CAHC

Summary

Introduction

AND PROBLEM DEFINITIONThe surge in interest in Complementary and Alternative Health Care (CAHC) is well documented in many Western countries and it is the primary source of health care for over 70% of the world’s population (Ernst, Pittler, Stevinson & White, 2001:ix). The pharmacist, as a member of the health care team, has an important obligation to be informed and educated about the different CAHC therapies and must be in a position to counsel patients regarding the safety and efficacy of the different therapies. This raised the question of whether pharmacy students are adequately trained in CAHC in their curriculum. A study conducted in the United States of America (USA) to examine pharmacy students’ responses to a CAHC elective, showed an extremely positive response in favour of an alternative medicine elective (Miederhoff, Wright, Buruss & Weaver, 1999:95). No similar studies could be found for the pharmacy profession in South Africa

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