The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7235 p203
8 February 2003

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Comprehensive and detailed resource for all pharmacy staff

'Complementary therapies for pharmacists', by Steven B. Kayne. Pp xiv+425. Price £24.95. London: Pharmaceutical Press; 2002. ISBN 0 853 69430 3

Steven Kayne has been a leading figure in complementary medicine and its applications to pharmacy for many years, and his wide experience in this area makes him an appropriate and erudite author for this handbook.

The book is organised in four parts. The first, a substantial overview of complementary/alternative medicine (CAM), includes detailed discussion of how CAM is defined and classified, the "holistic" approach of CAM therapies, the extent of and reasons for their use, and how CAM is organised in the United Kingdom.

Pharmacists will find part two of the book particularly useful because it considers, in separate chapters, the therapies — homoeopathy, anthroposophy, medical herbalism, aromatherapy and flower remedy therapy — that have most relevance to the pharmacy environment. For each of these, background, practice, evidence, safety and other relevant topics are covered in some depth. In a similar, albeit less detailed, format, parts three and four cover "ethnic" traditional therapies, eg, traditional Chinese medicine, and Ayurveda and other CAM disciplines, eg, naturopathy, manual therapies, mind and body therapies, respectively.

These chapters do not inform pharmacists how to become practitioners of these therapies — they are not intended to — but they do provide the necessary guidance to aid pharmacists in advising patients on their safe, effective and appropriate use. In addition, community pharmacists will find particularly useful practical information on, for example, how to supply and endorse prescriptions for homoeopathic remedies, and how strengths of herbal liquid extracts are expressed. I am also pleased to see the inclusion of sections on phytochemical constituents, because it is important that pharmacists view herbal medicines as complex chemical mixtures. The evidence for complementary medicines and therapies is also considered, sometimes only briefly, but to do otherwise (eg, for every herbal remedy) would be beyond the scope of the book. For a future edition, the herbal repertory could be improved because it is brief and not entirely consistent with the evidence, for example, ginkgo and not St John's wort is listed for depression.

For the most part, this book provides a detailed and comprehensive resource that will provide the pharmacist and pharmacy counter staff with the background and information needed to be able to advise patients and the public on the safe, effective and appropriate use of complementary medicines and therapies. Importantly, the author has an easy writing style that encourages the reader to dip into the book out of interest, not just out of necessity.

Jo Barnes