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Food for thought in an doctors' knowledge of herbal medicines needs to be better
1Department of Medicine Barnet Hospital, Barnet, UK. Clifford.lisk@nhs.net
Introduction:
Patients are increasingly taking herbal supplements for a variety of reasons. This has brought into question doctors knowledge about herbal medicines.
Method:
A cross-sectional web-based survey of 84 doctors working within the Department of Medicine at a District General Hospital was carried out looking at doctor's knowledge about herbal medicines.
Results:
53 doctors took part. Of these, the majority were trainees in Medicine (42) 79%. Only (15) 28% routinely ask patients about herbal medicine use when taking a drug history. Doctor's knowledge about herbal Medicines was poor.
Conclusion:
We need to re-examine our current teaching programmes to ensure that education about common herbal medicines and important sources of information are provided to doctors to improve patient safety.
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