Development of an Integrative Medicine Continuing Education Program for Pharmacists: A Needs Assessment

Abstract

Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine the need for an integrative medicine continuing education (CE) program for pharmacists and what pharmacists are looking for in such a CE program. Methods: A focus group was conducted with four pharmacists. They were led on a discussion about their experiences with alternative/herbal medicines and desire to learn more, opinions on CE for pharmacists, and compensation for CE credits. The members of the focus group were also given a demographics questionnaire about their gender, age, years in practice, and practice setting. Results: The focus group thought that most pharmacists would want to learn more about integrative medicine, including alternative and herbal products. They would like to have a CE program that is structured around disease states and presents evidence based medicine. It was agreed that inclusion of law CE credits would make the program more desirable. The length of the program could be between 2 hours (if presented on-line) to an entire day (if conducted with presentations). The major limitation in this study was the generalizability of the results due to the small size of the focus group and its members being form the same practice site. Conclusions: It was determined that there is a need for an integrative medicine CE program for pharmacists. If remuneration is sought for the program, then pharmacists will expect certification upon completion. More studies should be conducted to determine the ideal content in herbal/alternative medicine CE programs.