Drug and herb interactions: searching the web.

BACKGROUND

Australian patients spend large sums of money on complementary medicine and therapy each year. General practitioners are often asked questions about whether prescribed medications will interact with complementary medications. What current internet resources can be accessed to assist in answering these questions?

OBJECTIVE

This article looks at current internet resources that can assist GPs to answer patient questions about interactions between prescribed and complementary medicines.

DISCUSSION

Many of the websites found in this study provided limited information and limited searchability. We found seven websites out of 100 that met our selection criteria. A web portal, with risk categorisation of mild, moderate and severe for drug-herb interactions, can assist doctors in clinical decision making. Maximum benefits could be obtained by working corroboratively with the Therapeutic Goods Administration.