Patients need more information about complementary medicines
Patients are still not getting enough information about the use of complementary
medicines and may not feel able to discuss the matter with health care professionals, new research has shown.
A survey carried out on behalf of Developing
Patient Partnerships last
month found that 71 per cent of people would like to discuss complementary
medicine use with their GP or pharmacist. However, 38 per cent thought
that most GPs disapprove of these medicines and 24 per cent said that
they would be reluctant to tell their GPs that they were taking them.
In addition, 29 per cent of people surveyed said that they would stop
taking their prescription medicine or over-the-counter medicine if they
were going to use complementary medicine. Two thirds of the people surveyed
said they were unclear about which complementary medicines are safe and
40 per cent of people were unaware of the dangers of mixing natural remedies
with other medicines.
Edzard Ernst, director, complementary medicine, Peninsula Medical School,
Exeter, commented: “These data confirm previous surveys suggesting
that patients’ need for information on complementary and alternative
medicine is huge. Pharmacists should put themselves in a position where
they can satisfy this need.” He added: “Talking about complementary
medicine is all very well but, if this talk is not based on evidence,
it is not useful, perhaps even the opposite. As the evidence in CAM is
still very limited, this also means we need more CAM research and more
dedicated funds to carry it out.”
DPP guides Developing Patient Partnerships has produced a guide
for health professionals
called “Talking about complementary medicine” and a patient booklet
called “Making complementary medicine work for you”. They can be
obtained through primary care organisations that are members of DPP.
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