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.

conculsion:

Many pharmacists in Palestine believed that herbal remedies were an effective alternative therapeutic option. Continuing education programs, for practicing pharmacists, in herbal medicine should be encouraged. This would enable pharmacists to provide competent, effective and holistic patient care.

Title

Maher R. Khdour, Manar Kurdi , Hussein O. Hallak , Anan S. Jarab , Mohammad Dweib , Qusai N. Al-Shahed

Publisher

I nternatIonal archIves of M edIcIne sectIon: Global health & health Policy

Publisher Country

United Kingdom

Publication Type

Both (Printed and Online)

Volume

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Year

2016

Pages

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