Consumer health product lit search

This investigation set out to learn about consumer involvement in complementary medicine research from those who have experience of practice in this area. A literature search was combined with written and oral responses from key people and organisations in the UK. Letter or e-mail contact was made with 59 key people and organisations and 43 people responded. Eighteen respondents were interviewed. The overall level of consumer involvement was low but participants provided examples of experiences of consumer involvement in commissioning, designing, carrying out, and disseminating research...

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is a thriving sector in Australian health care although it remains largely disconnected from the health mainstream. This article looks at the recent history of CAM in Australia with a particular focus on regulation, education and representation by professional associations. Social forces are coercing the two health systems into relationship but this is occurring in an ad hoc and uncoordinated manner as institutions and professions respond to consumer needs for integration...

OBJECTIVES: Although research evidence exists to suggest why consumers use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), there remains a need to distinguish between factors and processes involved in the initial uptake of therapies and those involved in their subsequent maintenance. We therefore conducted a qualitative study to explore and describe consumers' reasons for maintaining or stopping CAM use. METHODS: This was a qualitative study. We interviewed 46 CAM consumers and 9 CAM practitioners, in two high-street CAM clinics in the UK...

RATIONALE, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To explore how community pharmacists use evidence to inform their practice when recommending or selling over-the-counter medicines. METHODS: Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted during February 2013 and analysed using the principles of content analysis. RESULTS: Sixteen pharmacists were interviewed. Pharmacists were aware of evidence-based medicine and practice but relied on personal judgement augmented with patient feedback to make product recommendations...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the patterns of use, knowledge, and attitudes toward complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among pharmacists. DESIGN: Anonymous self-administered survey. SETTINGS: 61st International Congress of International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), Singapore Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Research Symposium, and retail and hospital pharmacies in Singapore. SUBJECTS: Pharmacists attending the FIP Congress, TCM Symposium, and pharmacists working in retail and hospital pharmacies...

OBJECTIVE: To determine, by surveying Australian community pharmacists, the perceived barriers to the provision of information about complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs) and suggestions for overcoming them. METHOD: Anonymous, self-administered survey sent to a random sample of 701 pharmacists registered in three states of Australia in 2004. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Pharmacists' perceived barriers to the provision of information about CAMs...

OBJECTIVE: The use and sales of herbal medications have increased dramatically over the past several years. Pharmacists are in an ideal position to educate patients about herbal medicines. This study was intended to determine the knowledge and attitudes of pharmacists regarding herbal medications. METHODS: A survey was distributed to pharmacists at several state and regional meetings in Virginia and North Carolina between August and October 1998. The survey evaluated demographic data, attitudinal scales, and a 15-item herbal medicine knowledge test...

There is an increasing trend towards consumption of complementary and alternative herbal products in many parts of the world. A cross-sectional sample of 115 community pharmacists in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was visited and information on knowledge, attitudes and practices towards herbal remedies was collected using a structured questionnaire. All pharmacists acknowledged dispensing herbal products through their pharmacies. Ginseng was the most widely used product (47%), followed by ginkgo (23%), valerian (17%) and S...

OBJECTIVE: The use of over-the-counter (OTC) products and complementary medicines (CM) often results in adverse events. Little is known about the type of pharmacist interventions needed by elderly patients to optimize their use of such products. This study examines the prevalence of OTC/CM products used among chronically ill elderly patients and the types of pharmacist interventions the patients need. Gender differences were also investigated. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study...

BACKGROUND: Complementary medicines (CMs) are popular amongst Australians and community pharmacy is a major supplier of these products. This study explores pharmacy customer use, attitudes and perceptions of complementary medicines, and their expectations of pharmacists as they relate to these products. METHODS: Pharmacy customers randomly selected from sixty large and small, metropolitan and rural pharmacies in three Australian states completed an anonymous, self administered questionnaire that had been pre-tested and validated...

OBJECTIVE: To examine the experiences of community pharmacists providing advice about symptoms and complementary and alternative medicines (CAM). METHODS: Ten licensed pharmacists and 21 student pharmacists working in community settings participated in 4 focus groups to discuss: patients' questions about symptoms and CAM, comfort level providing advice, and factors prompting physician referrals. Focus group recordings were transcribed verbatim and interpreted using thematic text analysis...

BACKGROUND: Complementary medicines (CMs) are widely used by the Australian public, and pharmacies are major suppliers of these medicines. The integration of CMs into pharmacy practice is well documented, but the behaviours of pharmacists in recommending CMs to customers are less well studied. This study reports on factors that influence whether or not pharmacists in Australia recommend CMs to their customers. METHODS: Data were collected from semi-structured interviews with twelve practicing pharmacists based in Brisbane, Australia...

BACKGROUND: Over-the-counter medicines must be supplied with appropriate, user-friendly medicine information to satisfactorily support consumer self-management and safe use. Product labels and written medicine information leaflets are highly accessible over-the-counter medicine information sources for consumers. Factors such as comprehensibility and design underpin the usefulness of over-the-counter labels and leaflets and should be further examined to better inform future optimisation strategies...

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the public has different expectations of nonprescription medications based on location of sale. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, descriptive. SETTING: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, during the summer of 2003. PARTICIPANTS: 2,102 randomly selected citizens. INTERVENTION: Mail survey. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Differences in expectations for potency, safety, adverse effects, effectiveness, and package information of products sold in pharmacies versus convenience stores...

Substantial evidence has been developed regarding the identity of health care information sources preferred by the elderly. However, this research has not empirically investigated why a given source might be more or less important to this segment. To address this gap, this research investigates OTC-health care information sources in terms of their credibility, expertise and associated risk. Differences in perceptions of these characteristics across the derived information source types are then examined across heavy and light users of OTC medications...

PURPOSE: Patients increasingly use over-the-counter medicines for self-treatment but such products can be misused and/or abused. The primary aim of the present study is to survey the relationship between pharmacists and self-medication, to give an overview of their opinions on advertisements of non-prescription drugs and to evaluate the knowledge of and familiarity with medicines held by individuals purchasing them for self-treatment. METHODS: A marketing research study of non-prescription drugs in multiple pharmacies between March and July 2008 was conducted...

Using a model developed from the research literature, the authors compared consumers' attitudinal and behavioral responses to direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising (DCTA) and over-the-counter nonprescription drug advertising (OTCA) of drugs. Adults 18 years of age and older who had taken any prescription drugs in the past 6 months completed online survey questionnaires. Variables measured included demographics (age, gender, race, education, and income), health-related characteristics (health status, prescription and over-the-counter drug use, health consciousness, and involvement with prescription or over-the-counter drugs), perceived amount of attention and exposure to DTCA and OTCA, attitudinal outcomes (skepticism toward DTCA/OTCA and attitude toward DTCA/OTCA), and behavioral outcomes triggered by DTCA and OTCA...