Educating student pharmacists about herbal medicines: faculty–librarian collaboration

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To determine the impact of the teaching collaboration between faculty and librarians in instructing pharmacy students on herbal medicines. METHODS: An elective course with an integrated library instruction component is described. Qualitative data on students' perceptions of library instruction were collected and analysed as the result of pre- and post-surveys. RESULTS: Based on the results of pre-test and post-test surveys, the number of students who felt they were able to select the best print and electronic resources for finding herbal information increased to 100% from 50 and 60 correspondingly. This indicated a significant change in students' perceived knowledge of information sources in the field of herbal medicine, as well as overall progress in information literacy and problem-solving skills. CONCLUSION: Team teaching by faculty librarians is an effective way of educating future pharmacists on the information resources in the field of complementary and alternative therapies.