Abstract
The purpose of this project was to perform a needs assessment for pharmacy practitioners and measure the attitudes of both pharmacy practitioners and students regarding alternative therapies. A 15-item-five-point scale questionnaire designed to measure the educational needs and attitudes of pharmacists regarding complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) was developed and mailed to 200 randomly selected practitioners. After two mailings, 94 (47 percent) were returned. A modified version of the questionnaire was administered to 35 students pharmacy students. The returned questionnaires were tabulated and identical items were statistically compared using nonparametric analyses. Significant differences were the following: practitioners were less likely to favor pharmacists becoming practitioners of CAM; practitioners believed those alternative therapies offered by pharmacists would decrease the public's respect for the profession; students were more likely to believe that sufficient evidence exists supporting the use of some alternative therapies; students were more likely to believe that pharmacy as a profession should aggressively pursue opportunities in alternative medicine; students were more likely to refer a patient to a practitioner of CAM; and students were more likely to believe that alternative therapies will offer new means for the pharmacist to develop primary care services. We do not know if other rural and urban states have similar disparities between pharmacy practitioners and students, but we share this data in case a needs assessment should be done in other states.