Pharmacists’ Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices Towards Herbal Remedies In West Bank, Palestine

Abstract

Background: There is an increasing trend towards consumption of complementary and alternative herbal products in many parts of the world. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the knowled - ge and attitudes among pharmacists in West Bank, Palestine towards the use of herbs. Methods: Self-administered questionnaire was designed as the study instrument and distributed among 350 qualified pharmacists working in government and private pharmacies in West Bank, Palestine. Results: The response rate was 82.9% (290/350). The mean age of the pharmacists was 32.9 (SD=6.5) years. The majority of the phar - macist 238 (82.1%) worked in the community pharmacies and their experience in practice ranged from 1 to 26 years. Product package instructions and product representative were the most consulted by the pharmacists (128; 44.2% and 73; 25.2% respectively). General health tonic preparations were the most widely dispensed drugs (142; 48.9%), followed by cough preparations (55; 19.0%) and slimming agents (64; 22.1%). The Majority of pharmacists (195; 67.2%) belie - ved herbal remedies were effective; however, about fifty percent of the pharmacists had concern about their safety. The knowledge of respondents about the indications of herbal medicine was good, but their awareness of interactions, contraindications and adverse effects was inadequate. The majority of Pharmacists (255; 87.9%) believed that herbal product should undergo increased regulation and (215; 74.9%) believed that information available about herbal and natural product isn't adequate.