Complementary medicines information use and needs of health professionals: General practitioners and pharmacists

Abstract

There is an increasing interest in complementary and alternative medicines and therapies in Australia and overseas. Many consumers purchase a wide range of complementary medicines (CMs) and consult a wide range of complementary and alternative practitioners including naturopaths, acupuncturists and Chinese herbal medicine practitioners who may also directly supply CMs. In 2003, the Expert Committee on Complementary Medicines in the Health System was commissioned to report on the status of complementary medicines and therapies in Australia. In the report ‘Complementary Medicines in the Australian Health System’1, the Expert Committee identified a number of concerns and made a series of recommendations to facilitate safe, appropriate and effective use of CMs. One specific concern was the need for consumers and health professionals to have ‘accurate, reliable and independent information’ about CMs and to have appropriate skills to ‘interpret available information’ and ‘discriminate between reliable and unreliable information’ to allow them to make informed decisions about the use of CMs.