Availability of and attitudes toward resources on alternative medicine products in the community pharmacy setting

Abstract

Objective: To examine the availability of resources on dietary supplements in the community pharmacy setting and to assess the attitudes of community pharmacists toward these resources.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Community pharmacies in New York and New Jersey that serve as experiential sites for senior student pharmacists at the Arnold & Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Long Island University.

Participants: Preceptors or full-time pharmacists.

Intervention: Mailed survey.

Main outcome measures: Frequency of use, availability of, and pharmacists' satisfaction with resources on alternative medicines, defined in the survey as any product including herbal remedies, vitamins, minerals, and natural products that may be purchased at a health food store, pharmacy, supermarket, alternative medicine store/magazine for the purpose of self-treatment.

Results: A total of 64 pharmacists characterized their frequency of use of resources on alternative medicines while formulating responses to questions as: never (n = 5; 7.8%), seldom (n = 31; 48.4%), often (n = 24; 37.5%), or always (n = 4; 6.3%). A total of 30 different resources were available to 40 respondents. The most commonly available resources were the PDR for Herbal Medicines (42.5%), The Review of Natural Products (20.0%), and the Web site of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (12.5%). Of 54 respondents, 4 (7.1%) reported being completely dissatisfied with the available resources; 17 (31.5%) were somewhat dissatisfied; 25 (46.3%) were somewhat satisfied; and 8 (14.8%) were completely satisfied with the resources available to them. Topics the pharmacists most commonly wanted to see improved included safety (72.7%), interactions (70.9%), and uses (69.1%).

Conclusion: Community pharmacists do not use information resources on alternative medicine products frequently, and many are not satisfied with the resources available to them.