Acceptance and knowledge of herbal medicines among pharmacy students / Noor Hazarina Nordin, Tengku Muhaini Tuan Mat and Siti Nur Fadzilah Muhsain.

The remarkable global increase in the use of herbal remedies is set to continue apace well into the foreseeable future. This raises important public health concerns, especially as it relates to safety issues, including adverse effects and herb-drug interactions. Most health practitioners are ignorant of the risks and benefits of this healthcare modality and assessment of acceptance and knowledge would identify appropriate intervention strategies to improve communication in this area.
Majority of the population in the developing world use traditional medicines for the management of health, including herbal remedies. In the developed world, the dramatic revolution in healthcare was facilitated by the discovery of pharmacologically active chemical entities (supported by evidence-based safety and efficacy testing) and this has shifted the emphasis away from traditional herbal medicine. Consequently, many pharmacists lack knowledge on the benefits and risks of herbal medicines. Only a few studies have reported on the knowledge, attitudes and practices of pharmacists regarding complementary and alternative medicine, with little emphasis on herbal medicine. Recognition of the importance of education on herbals and other dietary supplements is fairly new, thus evaluations of the knowledge and opinions of pharmacy students regarding natural products are necessary. Unfortunately, literature regarding this population and herbal medicines is also minimal. One survey that evaluated pharmacy students' knowledge of alternative medicine found that course works focusing on this topic significantly improved the students’ knowledge base.
This study was undertaken primarily to determine the level of acceptance and knowledge regarding herbal medicine by pharmacy students of local universities in Penang. The objectives of the study are to evaluate the level of acceptance and knowledge regarding herbal medicine by pharmacy students, (2) to determine the relation between student’s acceptance and knowledge with some demographic data, and (3) to assess the student’s awareness about the safety of herbal medicine.