National Survey of Dietary Supplement Resources at Drug
National Survey of Dietary Supplement Resources at Drug
Objective: To assess the resources drug information centers are currently using to respond to dietary supplement information requests and to determine the frequency with which drug information centers are used as sources of information on dietary supplements.
Design: Cross-sectional survey.
Setting: United States.
Participants: 116 drug information centers.
Interventions: Mail survey that collected information on the use of drug information centers for dietary supplement information requests and the dietary supplement-specific resources available at and used in these centers.
Main Outcomes Measures: Survey responses, evaluated using descriptive statistics.
Results: Drug information centers received a relatively small number of requests for information related to dietary supplements, and most such requests came from consumers. The centers had a number of resources available to assist in responding to those requests, with Facts and Comparisons' The Review of Natural Products and the print version of Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database being the resources most often at hand. The majority of respondents believed their centers were "usually able" to respond to the requests received.
Conclusion: Drug information centers are often overlooked as sources of information about dietary supplements; however, centers have resources that are, by self-assessment, sufficient to respond to dietary supplement information requests. Great variation exists among centers in the resources available to address requests, with just two resources, the Review of Natural Products and the print version of Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, available to more than three-fourths of the respondents.
The increased use of dietary supplements over the past decade in all patient populations has been well documented. Yet, for reasons that remain unclear, the majority of patients are not informing health care practitioners of their use of these products. Possibly, patients perceive dietary supplements as "natural" and therefore safe, or they may believe that health care practitioners have negative attitudes toward or are not well informed about dietary supplements.
Even though the majority of patients are not discussing supplement use with practitioners, due to the increasing volume of use, practitioners are nonetheless likely receiving more requests for information about dietary supplements. Drug information centers would, therefore, likely see corresponding increases in questions on supplements. This change is difficult to assess globally because no studies evaluating the number of dietary supplement information requests centers receive from health care practitioners have been reported to date, and, therefore, baseline numbers are not available for comparison. Results of one recent survey indicate that fewer than 10% of pharmacists contact drug information centers when they have questions about dietary supplements. Pharmacists may be hesitant to rely on these resources for information on supplements to the same extent that they do for information about medications because they perceive that centers lack the resources, expertise, or desire to provide information regarding dietary supplements.
While previous studies have assessed trends in the growth of drug information centers and looked at the services they provide, few have assessed the resources of these centers, and none has evaluated which specific dietary supplement resources are held by drug information centers.
Objective: To assess the resources drug information centers are currently using to respond to dietary supplement information requests and to determine the frequency with which drug information centers are used as sources of information on dietary supplements.
Design: Cross-sectional survey.
Setting: United States.
Participants: 116 drug information centers.
Interventions: Mail survey that collected information on the use of drug information centers for dietary supplement information requests and the dietary supplement-specific resources available at and used in these centers.
Main Outcomes Measures: Survey responses, evaluated using descriptive statistics.
Results: Drug information centers received a relatively small number of requests for information related to dietary supplements, and most such requests came from consumers. The centers had a number of resources available to assist in responding to those requests, with Facts and Comparisons' The Review of Natural Products and the print version of Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database being the resources most often at hand. The majority of respondents believed their centers were "usually able" to respond to the requests received.
Conclusion: Drug information centers are often overlooked as sources of information about dietary supplements; however, centers have resources that are, by self-assessment, sufficient to respond to dietary supplement information requests. Great variation exists among centers in the resources available to address requests, with just two resources, the Review of Natural Products and the print version of Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, available to more than three-fourths of the respondents.
The increased use of dietary supplements over the past decade in all patient populations has been well documented. Yet, for reasons that remain unclear, the majority of patients are not informing health care practitioners of their use of these products. Possibly, patients perceive dietary supplements as "natural" and therefore safe, or they may believe that health care practitioners have negative attitudes toward or are not well informed about dietary supplements.
Even though the majority of patients are not discussing supplement use with practitioners, due to the increasing volume of use, practitioners are nonetheless likely receiving more requests for information about dietary supplements. Drug information centers would, therefore, likely see corresponding increases in questions on supplements. This change is difficult to assess globally because no studies evaluating the number of dietary supplement information requests centers receive from health care practitioners have been reported to date, and, therefore, baseline numbers are not available for comparison. Results of one recent survey indicate that fewer than 10% of pharmacists contact drug information centers when they have questions about dietary supplements. Pharmacists may be hesitant to rely on these resources for information on supplements to the same extent that they do for information about medications because they perceive that centers lack the resources, expertise, or desire to provide information regarding dietary supplements.
While previous studies have assessed trends in the growth of drug information centers and looked at the services they provide, few have assessed the resources of these centers, and none has evaluated which specific dietary supplement resources are held by drug information centers.
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