 With growing research and clinical interest in using herbs and dietary supplements to treat patients, a new experimental on-line course is testing the best ways to teach doctors and other health professionals about their use.
The benefits and risks of more than 100 herbs and dietary supplements are the focus of the course headed by Kathi Kemper, M.D., MPH of Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and funded by a grant from the National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health.
The course is based on available scientific evidence and aims at providing physicians, physician assistants, nurses, nutritionists, pharmacists, and other health professionals with the tools they need to counsel patients about herbs and dietary supplements,
“Health workers want to know more about herbs and supplements,” Kemper said, adding that an American Academy of Pediatrics survey showed that 90 percent of pediatricians desire additional information. “It is popular in family medicine and internal medicine as well.”
More than 1,000 professionals enrolled in the course this past winter, under the aegis of the School of Medicine and Northwest Area Health Education Center of Wake Forest University School of Medicine, part of the North Carolina AHEC Program.
The on-line course includes 40 self-instructional modules about common clinical conditions in which patients might use herbs and supplements. It offers the opportunity to participate in an on-line discussion group called a listserv. In each module up to 19 links are available to evidence-based information from academic centers and from the federal government.
Northwest AHEC has been responsible for the logistics and support of the course, such as email marketing, registration, data collection and evaluation. Project Manager for this program is Jessica Gobble. Jessica can be reached at 336/713-7711 or jgobble@wfubmc.edu.
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