Assessing pharmacy student confidence to answer patient questions regarding herbal medicines and natural product drugs

Abstract Background and purpose To assess the change in confidence answering questions about herbal medicines and natural product drugs (HMNPD) in third year professional pharmacy students in an HMNPD course. Educational activity and setting A questionnaire was developed to query confidence in responding to patient questions, recommending specific products, and ability to retrieve resources regarding HMNPD. It was administered the first and last week of the semester; responses were evaluated using a Chi-squared test. Findings At baseline, 46 students (84%) were “very hesitant”, “hesitant”, or “neither hesitant nor confident” in responding to HMNPD questions; after the course, most students were “confident” or “very confident” (n=30, 54%) (p Discussion Significant increases in student confidence answering patient questions, responding to disease-specific queries, and using appropriate resources were found. There was no difference in confidence in HMNPD safety/efficacy. Summary This study supported continued HMNPD education in the pharmacy program.