title: Pharmacists' actions when patients use complementary and alternative medicine with medications: A look at Texas-Mexico border cities.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine how often pharmacists inquire about patients' complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use, actions taken in response to patients' CAM use, and demographic or professional characteristics that predict differences in pharmacists' actions.
  
  
  METHODS
  A survey was mailed to 400 randomly selected community pharmacists who resided in Texas-Mexico border cities.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Most (63.8%) pharmacists had encountered patients who were using CAM. They documented CAM use in 9.8% of cases and monitored for drug-related problems in 39.4%. Among users, pharmacists sometimes to usually (3.4 ± 1.4 [mean ± SD]) took actions such as referring patients to their physicians. Pharmacists were not particularly comfortable (3.2 ± 1.0) with responding to CAM inquiries but believed patients needed adequate CAM knowledge. Pharmacists rarely to sometimes (2.6 ± 1.2) asked patients about their CAM use. Inquiry about CAM use was greater when information could be documented in profiles (F = 4.29, P = 0.02) and when pharmacists had additional training in CAM (t = -2.59, P = 0.01). Also, in pharmacies that stocked herbal or homeopathic products, pharmacists were more likely to recommend other CAM therapies appropriate for patients' conditions (t = -3.27, P < 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pharmacists were not very proactive in inquiring about CAM use, and their actions (e.g., referral to physician) were somewhat passive. More routine inquiry and documentation are needed. Pharmacists should routinely ask about and document CAM use by patients in order to optimize drug therapy outcomes.
authors: College of Pharmacy, University of Texas at Austin, USA. cmbrown@mail.utexas.edu
authors: Carolyn M
authors: CM
authors: Brown
authors: Ana
authors: A
authors: Pena
authors: Karla
authors: K
authors: Resendiz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003157:Community Pharmacy Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D000529:Complementary Therapies / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D016903:Drug Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017058:Mexican Americans; D008800:Mexico; D008875:Middle Aged; D010595:Pharmacists / Q000458:organization & administration*; D008517:Phytotherapy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods; D024382:Professional Role; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013781:Texas