(1191) Addressing Pharmacist’s and Student Pharmacist’s Knowledge and Comfort of Complementary Medicine Through Pharmacist-provided Education

Objectives: The objectives of this study are to determine the knowledge and comfort levels of pharmacists and student pharmacists with providing select complementary medicine recommendations before and after a continuing education session. Pharmacists are recognized as the medication experts. Doctor of Pharmacy programs in the United States emphasize prescription medication therapy. Most pharmacy curricula include one course on nonprescription medication therapy and may briefly touch on vitamins and supplements. Literature reports that there is a need for further education of pharmacists and student pharmacists regarding vitamins and supplements. Pharmacists should have a strong baseline knowledge of complementary medicine, including nutritional approaches which focus on the use of vitamins, minerals, dietary supplements, and herbal products. This research serves to educate pharmacists and student pharmacists to look more at opportunities to impact patient wellbeing and safety by increasing their knowledge of complementary medicine approaches.

Methods: This will be a prospective, survey based pre- and post-assessment that is given before and after a one-hour educational seminar for pharmacists and student pharmacists. The seminar content will include an overview of complementary medicine, drug-induced nutrient deficiencies, supplement quality standards, how to help patients select an appropriate product, and opportunities to impact non-dispensing revenue. Pharmacists and student pharmacists 18 years of age and older will be invited to attend the seminar. An invitation with registration information will be emailed via listserv to students at a local school of pharmacy and to community care-focused members of the state pharmacy association. Participant responses will be included in the analysis if received from a pharmacist or student pharmacist in North Carolina who is 18 years of age or older, and who participates in the pre-assessment, educational seminar, and post-assessment. Prior to beginning the educational seminar, participants will be asked to complete a 17-item pre-survey. Within two weeks of the conclusion of the seminar, participants will be asked to complete a 20-item post-survey. Survey content will include demographics, knowledge of complementary medicine and comfort with providing recommendations. The surveys will be pilot tested among a convenience sample of pharmacists and student pharmacists for feedback on validity and question structure. Surveys will be distributed electronically via Qualtrics. Completion of the survey will be voluntary and confidential. Participants will create a unique code to link responses from the pre-assessment to the post assessment. Participants will have the opportunity to enter a drawing to receive one of twenty $20 gift cards as an incentive for survey completion. The data will be exported to Excel and descriptive statistics will be used to evaluate data.

Results: Institutional Review Board approval is anticipated in November 2023. Data collection will occur in December 2023 and January 2024. Data analysis will occur in February 2024.

Conclusions: This research will evaluate the enhanced comfortability and knowledge of complementary medicine “nutritional approaches” after attending and engaging with a continuing education session. This will showcase the need for more accessible education for pharmacists and student pharmacists to increase benefit for patients by receiving more tailored well-being recommendations, as well as an increase in over-the counter revenue for pharmacies.