Educating student pharmacists about herbal medicines: faculty-librarian collaboration.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the impact of the teaching collaboration between faculty and librarians in instructing pharmacy students on herbal medicines.


METHODS
An elective course with an integrated library instruction component is described. Qualitative data on students' perceptions of library instruction were collected and analysed as the result of pre- and post-surveys.


RESULTS
Based on the results of pre-test and post-test surveys, the number of students who felt they were able to select the best print and electronic resources for finding herbal information increased to 100% from 50 and 60 correspondingly. This indicated a significant change in students' perceived knowledge of information sources in the field of herbal medicine, as well as overall progress in information literacy and problem-solving skills.


CONCLUSIONS
Team teaching by faculty librarians is an effective way of educating future pharmacists on the information resources in the field of complementary and alternative therapies.
Lapidus
Mariana
M
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Boston, MA 02115, USA. mariana.lapidus@mcphs.edu
D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D004512:Education, Pharmacy; D005178:Faculty; D029001:Herbal Medicine / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007993:Libraries, Medical / Q000458:organization & administration*; D016730:Program Development; D014481:United States