Opinions of pharmacists and herbalists on herbal medicine use and receiving herbal medicine education in Jordan

Iman A Basheti,Eman R Elayeh,Dalal B Al Natour Db,Sami Saqf El Hait

doi:10.4314/tjpr.v16i3.26

Abstract

Purpose: To explore the beliefs of herbalists and community pharmacists on receiving educational courses in herbal medicine (HM) use by patients at pharmacy schools.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2014. Herbalists (n = 48) and pharmacists (n = 163) were randomly recruited into the study. Demographic data, beliefs on HM use by patients, and willingness to attend educational courses were collected using a validated questionnaire and one-onone interviews.Results: The majority of the herbalists (n = 37, 77.1 %) believed that HMs are highly used in Jordan as alternative or add-on therapy to conventional medications, and the majority (n = 39, 81.3 %) reported that they need to be educated on HM use by a professional organization. More than 80 % of the pharmacists believed that they need to be experts on HM use and should apply pharmaceutical care for patients buying registered HMs at their pharmacies; a significantly higher proportion of female pharmacists (p = 0.04) agreed with this concept compared to male pharmacists.Conclusion: Both herbalists and pharmacists showed interest in attending educational courses on HM use at pharmacy schools to improve their ability to serve their patients.Keywords: Herbalists, Community pharmacists, Herbal medicine, Pharmaceutical care

Highlights

Herbal medicines (HMs) have been used therapeutically for thousands of years and continue to be widely used worldwide due to their high acceptance by patients, perceived efficacy, relative safety, and low cost [1,2,3]
All of the herbalists who answered the question “Have you been invited to attend an educational course on HM use in the past year in Amman” (n = 28), answered “No.” One of them reported attending a course outside of Jordan
A large proportion of herbalists (n = 39, 8 %) reported that they need to be educated on HM use and their side effects by a professional organization (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

Herbal medicines (HMs) have been used therapeutically for thousands of years and continue to be widely used worldwide due to their high acceptance by patients, perceived efficacy, relative safety, and low cost [1,2,3]. A majority of people perceive HMs as natural and safe. Patients appreciate their active role and perceived autonomy in choosing HM [1]. Pharmacists are in a unique position to provide evidencebased information regarding HMs and help patients and customers make safe decisions about their use [7]. Herbalists on the other hand, continue to be the main source of education regarding HMs for consumers [7,8]. Both pharmacists and herbalists have suboptimal knowledge regarding important aspects of HM use [9,10]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion