Knowledge, use and recommendation of Iraqi pharmacist toward complementary and alternative medicine

Abstract EN

Over the past few decades, the global usage and applications of different kinds of complementary and alternative medicine are greatly exaggerated among the general population, this requires improving the knowledge of all health care provider including pharmacists toward proper and safe use of different complementary and alternative medicine modalities.

The current study aims to assess the Iraqi pharmacists' knowledge, use, and recommendation toward complementary and alternative medicine.

A cross-sectional pilot survey was done on a convenient sample of Iraqi pharmacists.

Data were collected using a pretested questionnaire specifically designed from a previous study with some modification to reflect the work nature in Iraq.

The most common complementary and alternative medicine modalities used personally by Iraqi pharmacists are nutritional supplements (62%) followed by herbal products (47%).

On the other hand, nearly half (48%) of pharmacists recommend some herbal products to their patients besides a slightly lower percentage (46%) recommend nutritional supplements.

The pharmacists' knowledge about several complementary and alternative medicine usages was low.

The percentage of pharmacists who answered more than 8 questions properly from the 11 questions asked by the questionnaire was (1.

2%), while the percentage of pharmacists who answered correct answers for more than 7 questions was (5.

6%), and the percentage of pharmacists who have correct answers for more than half of the questions was only (19.

8%).

This study points outs that despite the widespread use of some alternative and complementary medicine methods by pharmacists themselves or their patients, the level of knowledge is low in this area.

Therefore, the study recommends the introduction of evidence-based information and updated guidelines for appropriate use of this type of medicine to pharmacy colleges' curricula to help future pharmacists meet demand from the growing number of alternative and complementary medicine users across Iraq.