Complementary funding
May 24, 2012
BLACKMORES has stepped up to
the plate and agreed to fund
research by the University of
Sydney’s Faculty of Pharmacy which
will look into the quality use of
complementary medicines (CM) in
pharmacies in Australia.
The research, led by Associate
Professor in Pharmacy Practice,
Parisa Aslani, will investigate
pharmacist and consumer
perspectives on complementary
medicines, and will be conducted in
the form of a needs analysis.
“The overall aim of this research
is to determine the information
needs of both consumers and
pharmacists with respect to the
quality use of complementary
medicines,” said Aslani.
“Once these needs have been
established and data is available we
can ascertain whether there is a
need to develop future
complementary medicine
education programs aimed at
improving the quality use of CM in
pharmacy,” Aslani added.
According to a NPS study nearly
all pharmacists agree that they
should “regularly ask consumers
about CM use, but less than half of
the pharmacists felt they were
confident discussing CM therapy
with patients”.
The study, according to
Blackmores, will help to better
understand the reasons for this,
and the findings may assist in the
development of a complementary
medicines course for pharmacists
and pharmacy interns.
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