The Attitude of under graduated pharmacy students in Lithuania towards the use of bee products for treatment and disease prevention
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2016-09-23 |
Introduction.Apitherapy (Apis from Latin word means bee) is practice of using bee products such as honey, pollen, propolis, royal jelly and bee venom for disease prevention or treatment proposes.Complementary medicine practices which incorporate use of some traditional herbal, mineral or animal kind substances very often are discussed with pharmacy professionals because these products are often sold in pharmacies as dietary supplements and pharmacist is often the easiest accessible health care professional. This study is aimed to determine the attitude, towards apitherapyamong under-graduated pharmacy students (Master of Pharmacy) who has already pharmacy technician diplomas and from 1 to 20 years practice of working at community pharmacies as pharmacy assistants. Methods.A method of questionnaire was chosen. The questionnaires were distributed during the 2014-2015 academic year at Lithuanian University of Health Sciences to the intensive 3years MPharm course students. The respondents of all three year courses were invited to take part in a survey. The questions about attitudes, experience, knowledge and practices for disease prevention and treatment of different bee products, their safety and informational sources were included. Results.Respondents expressed opinion that usage of bee products is part of traditional medicine. Most of them convinced experience of honey product usage for treatment and disease prevention for themselves and their family members (72%) although there is still was expressed need of evidence based information. As respondents pointed to, the most known bee products are honey, propolis and royal jelly. They are widely used for enhancing of immune system and prevention of respiratory tract infections. Conclusions.Pharmacy students in Lithuania showed interest towards bee product usage for prevention of diseases and treatment purposes. They self-reported usage and awareness of bee produc. [...].