An-Najah Staff

Background and Objectives: With the global rise in the use of herbal ‎products; pressure is increasing on pharmacists to have more knowledge ‎about herbal medicine. We assessed pharmacists’ dispensing practices, ‎attitudes, and knowledge regarding herbal products. Methods: A cross ‎sectional study was carried out among community pharmacists in north ‎Palestine using a questionnaire. A convenience sample of 100 community ‎pharmacists was included in the study. The mean age of participants was ‎‎33±11 years. Results: Dispensing of herbal products was common. The ‎majority of participants (91%) believed that herbal products were ‎beneficial and 61% believed these had fewer side effects than ‎conventional medicines. Most participants thought they have good ‎knowledge of herbal preparations. However, their actual knowledge in ‎response to factual questionnaire was low. The lowest score was observed ‎for herbal drug interactions domain. Conclusions: Although herbal ‎products are commonly dispensed in Palestine, community pharmacists ‎have poor knowledge about these medicines. Continuing pharmacy ‎education in general is needed for community pharmacists to qualify ‎them to provide a better pharmaceutical care.

Background and Objectives: With the global rise in the use of herbal ‎products; pressure is increasing on pharmacists to have more knowledge ‎about herbal medicine. We assessed pharmacists’ dispensing practices, ‎attitudes, and knowledge regarding herbal products. Methods: A cross ‎sectional study was carried out among community pharmacists in north ‎Palestine using a questionnaire. A convenience sample of 100 community ‎pharmacists was included in the study. The mean age of participants was ‎‎33±11 years. Results: Dispensing of herbal products was common. The ‎majority of participants (91%) believed that herbal products were ‎beneficial and 61% believed these had fewer side effects than ‎conventional medicines. Most participants thought they have good ‎knowledge of herbal preparations. However, their actual knowledge in ‎response to factual questionnaire was low. The lowest score was observed ‎for herbal drug interactions domain. Conclusions: Although herbal ‎products are commonly dispensed in Palestine, community pharmacists ‎have poor knowledge about these medicines. Continuing pharmacy ‎education in general is needed for community pharmacists to qualify ‎them to provide a better pharmaceutical care. 

Abstract

Aims

This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of polypharmacy, polyherbacy and nutritional supplement use and to determine the factors affecting polypharmacy in geriatric patients from Palestine.

Methods

A prospective cross-sectional study of a group of hospitalised patients was carried out at Al-Wattani governmental hospital, Nablus, Palestine. This was a descriptive and comparative study that involved specially designed data collection forms. Some variables were collected by face-to-face interviews of a convenient sample of patients aged ≥ 65 years from May to November 2012. Participant demographics and information about the current use of prescribed medications, herbal products and nutritional supplements were collected. All collected data were analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 15.0.

Results

Three hundred participants (mean age: 73.4 ± 7 years) were interviewed. The prevalence of polypharmacy (patients who take ≥ 5 medications) at hospital discharge was 51%. Eighty participants (26.7%) reported taking two or more herbal products (polyherbacy). Thirty-six participants (12.1%) reported taking two or more vitamins/mineral supplements. Binary logistic regression analysis revealed that patients living with their family (OR = 4.06; 95% CI = 1.39–11.83; P = 0.01), diabetes mellitus (OR = 2.67; 95% CI = 1.40–5.08;P = 0.003), heart failure (OR = 2.57; 95% CI = 1.25–5.28; P = 0.01), general weakness (OR = 3.82; 95% CI = 1.60–9.14; P = 0.003), and joint pain (OR = 8.02; 95% CI = 1.88–34.17; P = 0.005) were significantly associated with an increased risk of exposure to polypharmacy.

Conclusions

About half of elderly patients are exposed to polypharmacy at Al-Watani hospital. Also, a portion of geriatrics used herbal product and nutritional supplements. The factors that were associated with patient's exposure to polypharmacy were: living with family, diabetes mellitus, heart failure, general weakness, and joint pain. Interventions to reduce the high-level polypharmacy in the elderly during their stay in a government hospital in Palestine should focus more on patients with diabetes mellitus, heart failure, and joint pain.