Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, 144 College Street, Room 635, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3M2, Canada.
Res Social Adm Pharm. 2010 Mar;6(1):63-9. doi: 10.1016/j.sapharm.2009.02.004. Epub 2009 Jul 29.
Although many pharmacies sell natural health products (NHPs), there is no clear definition as to the roles and responsibilities (if any) of pharmacists with respect to these products.
The purpose of this study was to explore pharmacy and stakeholder leaders' perceptions of pharmacists' professional NHP roles and responsibilities.
Semi-structured key informant interviews were conducted with pharmacy leaders (n=17) and stakeholder (n=18) leaders representing consumers, complementary and alternative medicine practitioners, conventional health care practitioners, and industry across Canada.
All participants believed a main NHP responsibility for pharmacists was in safety monitoring, although a one challenge identified in the interviews was pharmacists' general lack of NHP knowledge; however, stakeholder leaders did not expect pharmacists to be experts, but should have a basic level of knowledge about NHPs.
Participants described pharmacists' professional roles and responsibilities for NHPs as similar to those for over-the-counter drugs; more awareness of existing NHP-related pharmacy policies is needed, and pharmacy owners/managers should provide additional training to ensure front-line pharmacists have appropriate knowledge of NHPs sold in the pharmacy.
尽管许多药店销售天然保健品（NHPs），但对于药剂师在这些产品方面的角色和责任（如果有的话），尚无明确的定义。
本研究旨在探讨药房和利益相关者领导者对药剂师专业 NHP 角色和责任的看法。
对来自加拿大各地的药房领导者（n=17）和利益相关者（n=18）领导者（代表消费者、补充和替代医学从业者、传统医疗保健从业者和行业）进行了半结构化的关键意见领袖访谈。
所有参与者都认为药剂师在安全监测方面是 NHP 的主要责任，尽管访谈中发现的一个挑战是药剂师普遍缺乏 NHP 知识；然而，利益相关者领导者并不期望药剂师成为专家，而只需对 NHPs 有基本的了解。
参与者将药剂师对 NHP 的专业角色和责任描述为与非处方药相似；需要更多地了解现有的与 NHP 相关的药房政策，并且药房所有者/经理应提供额外的培训，以确保一线药剂师对药房销售的 NHPs 有适当的了解。
