Objective:
The aim of this study
was
to assess the perceptions of different health
care professionals
towards H
M.
Method
s
:
The 16
-item questionnaire on the
belief of health care professionals in herbal medicine was designed by the interdisciplinary task force
.
Eligible
participants
were health care providers
who were
English
-and Arabic
-literate
. The response rate was 78% of
participants
(781
of 1000
)
were
respondents
. In total, 553 out of 781 (71%) participants indicated that they ha
d previo
usly u
sed herbal medicines.
The remaining
228
participants did not believe in herbal medicine
due to
lack of scientific evidence
, ineffectiveness
and
other reasons.
Result
s:
The findings of this study indicate that health care professionals including pharmacists believe they have a responsibi
lity to provide
information on H
M to their patients. However, the current consensus among the respondents is that current H
M-foc
used knowledge is inadequate
for such an application.
Conclusio
n:
Health care professionals believe in using HM for their needs and have a responsibility to provide information on HM to their
patien