Community pharmacists’ knowledge, practices and beliefs about complementary and alternative medicine in Palestine: a cross-sectional study
Abstract Background Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) utilization is dramatically increasing among patients. As community pharmacies are a major provider of CAM products, community pharmacists need to have the sufficient knowledge and information to advice their patients, answer their inq...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2017-08-01
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| Series: | BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12906-017-1940-8 |
| _version_ | 1818845891149168640 |
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| author | Naser Y. Shraim Ramzi Shawahna Muna A. Sorady Banan M. Aiesh Ghadeer Sh. Alashqar Raghad I. Jitan Waed M. Abu Hanieh Yasmeen B. Hotari Waleed M. Sweileh Sa’ed H. Zyoud |
| author_facet | Naser Y. Shraim Ramzi Shawahna Muna A. Sorady Banan M. Aiesh Ghadeer Sh. Alashqar Raghad I. Jitan Waed M. Abu Hanieh Yasmeen B. Hotari Waleed M. Sweileh Sa’ed H. Zyoud |
| author_sort | Naser Y. Shraim |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) utilization is dramatically increasing among patients. As community pharmacies are a major provider of CAM products, community pharmacists need to have the sufficient knowledge and information to advice their patients, answer their inquiries and to be proactive in the healthcare process to ensure optimal therapy outputs and minimize both drug-drug and drug-herb interactions. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to assess the knowledge, beliefs, and practices of community pharmacists in Palestine about CAM. Methods The study was conducted in a cross-sectional design in which a questionnaire was administered on a sample of licensed community pharmacists from Palestine. The questionnaire was of 5 sections: demographic and practice details of the participants, practice, beliefs, and knowledge about CAM. Mann-Whitney-U or Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to comparison of different issues as appropriate. P-values of <0.05 were considered significant. Results A total of 284 community pharmacists were surveyed, however, 281 were included in the analysis as they met inclusion criteria. Out of the 281, 149 (53.0%) of the participants were males and the rest were females. About 40% of the participants were between 20 to 29 years old. Pharmacists frequently recommended CAM modalities. Exercises (84.0%) and food supplements (82.6%) were the most commonly recommended modalities. In the last year, vitamin B12 was the most frequently prescribed supplement. The median knowledge score was 5 out of 8 and the median beliefs about CAM score was 4.0 out of 7.0. Conclusions CAM recommendations by pharmacists appear to be commonplace. Although their knowledge scores were fair to average, pharmacists still need more education and training about CAM in order to be more qualified to provide better pharmaceutical care and improve their patient’s outcome. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T05:36:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1f6339132231407d8c8f5c26acd1fa0b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1472-6882 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T05:36:51Z |
| publishDate | 2017-08-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine |
| spelling | doaj.art-1f6339132231407d8c8f5c26acd1fa0b2022-12-21T20:34:07ZengBMCBMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine1472-68822017-08-0117111210.1186/s12906-017-1940-8Community pharmacists’ knowledge, practices and beliefs about complementary and alternative medicine in Palestine: a cross-sectional studyNaser Y. Shraim0Ramzi Shawahna1Muna A. Sorady2Banan M. Aiesh3Ghadeer Sh. Alashqar4Raghad I. Jitan5Waed M. Abu Hanieh6Yasmeen B. Hotari7Waleed M. Sweileh8Sa’ed H. Zyoud9Department of Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National UniversityDepartment of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National UniversityPharmD program, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National UniversityPharmD program, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National UniversityPharmD program, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National UniversityPharmD program, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National UniversityPharmD program, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National UniversityPharmD program, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National UniversityDepartment of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National UniversityPalestine Department of Clinical and Community Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National UniversityAbstract Background Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) utilization is dramatically increasing among patients. As community pharmacies are a major provider of CAM products, community pharmacists need to have the sufficient knowledge and information to advice their patients, answer their inquiries and to be proactive in the healthcare process to ensure optimal therapy outputs and minimize both drug-drug and drug-herb interactions. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to assess the knowledge, beliefs, and practices of community pharmacists in Palestine about CAM. Methods The study was conducted in a cross-sectional design in which a questionnaire was administered on a sample of licensed community pharmacists from Palestine. The questionnaire was of 5 sections: demographic and practice details of the participants, practice, beliefs, and knowledge about CAM. Mann-Whitney-U or Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to comparison of different issues as appropriate. P-values of <0.05 were considered significant. Results A total of 284 community pharmacists were surveyed, however, 281 were included in the analysis as they met inclusion criteria. Out of the 281, 149 (53.0%) of the participants were males and the rest were females. About 40% of the participants were between 20 to 29 years old. Pharmacists frequently recommended CAM modalities. Exercises (84.0%) and food supplements (82.6%) were the most commonly recommended modalities. In the last year, vitamin B12 was the most frequently prescribed supplement. The median knowledge score was 5 out of 8 and the median beliefs about CAM score was 4.0 out of 7.0. Conclusions CAM recommendations by pharmacists appear to be commonplace. Although their knowledge scores were fair to average, pharmacists still need more education and training about CAM in order to be more qualified to provide better pharmaceutical care and improve their patient’s outcome.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12906-017-1940-8CAMPharmacistsKnowledgeBeliefsPracticeInformation sources |
| spellingShingle | Naser Y. Shraim Ramzi Shawahna Muna A. Sorady Banan M. Aiesh Ghadeer Sh. Alashqar Raghad I. Jitan Waed M. Abu Hanieh Yasmeen B. Hotari Waleed M. Sweileh Sa’ed H. Zyoud Community pharmacists’ knowledge, practices and beliefs about complementary and alternative medicine in Palestine: a cross-sectional study BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine CAM Pharmacists Knowledge Beliefs Practice Information sources |
| title | Community pharmacists’ knowledge, practices and beliefs about complementary and alternative medicine in Palestine: a cross-sectional study |
| title_full | Community pharmacists’ knowledge, practices and beliefs about complementary and alternative medicine in Palestine: a cross-sectional study |
| title_fullStr | Community pharmacists’ knowledge, practices and beliefs about complementary and alternative medicine in Palestine: a cross-sectional study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Community pharmacists’ knowledge, practices and beliefs about complementary and alternative medicine in Palestine: a cross-sectional study |
| title_short | Community pharmacists’ knowledge, practices and beliefs about complementary and alternative medicine in Palestine: a cross-sectional study |
| title_sort | community pharmacists knowledge practices and beliefs about complementary and alternative medicine in palestine a cross sectional study |
| topic | CAM Pharmacists Knowledge Beliefs Practice Information sources |
| url | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12906-017-1940-8 |
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