Knowledge, attitude, and perceptions of healthcare professionals towards complementary and alternative medicine: a cross-sectional survey from twin cities of Pakistan.

BACKGROUND: The growing popularity and use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) products among the general public worldwide has been well documented. This study aimed to investigate the knowledge, attitude, and perceptions (KAP) of Pakistani healthcare professionals (HCP) toward CAM and to document their views on integrating CAM education with the curriculum of undergraduate health science programs. METHOD: A cross-sectional study using simple random sampling was conducted for a duration of ten months among HCPs from Pakistan's twin cities: Islamabad and RawalpindiThe data were collected using a self-administered and validated (Cronbach's alpha: 0.71) questionnaire. This questionnaire consisted of five sections, namely; demographic, attitude, perception, integration and knowledge. RESULT: The response rate was 91.20% (500/456). The participants included 160 physicians, 155 nurses,and 141 pharmacists. The majority of the respondents were females, 67.50%, and unmarried (60.50%).The majority of HCPs participating in this study agreed that CAM modalities may benefit conventional medicine system. Likewise, most HCPs perceived different CAM therapies aseffective treatment options. More than 50% HCPs suggested CAM elective courses in the curriculum of the health sciences program.Overall, 79.17% of the HCPs have poor knowledge of CAM. Physicians have the highest knowledge score 25.63%, followed by pharmacists 21.99%, and nurses 12.26%. Knowledge status was significantly associated with age, profession, and experience of practice (p = 0.001,0.001 & 0.019). CONCLUSION: This study revealed that despite the overall positive attitude of HCPs toward CAM, the score of knowledge is low. Therefore, the survey recommends evidence-based guidelines for the rationale use of CAM and updated syllabi of undergraduate health programs which will assist the future HCPs in increasing professionals' knowledge toachieve better health outcomes for the general public.

Pre and post characterization of ODTs with emphasis on compression force and quality of super-disintegrants: In vivo analysis in healthy volunteers.

Oral dispersible tablets (ODTs) are patient compliant dosage forms which rapidly disintegrate in the mouth following active absorption with rapid onset of action. The current study was designed to resolve compression problems used for ODTs, as high compression force exhibited hardness and drug release problems. Formulations, F1-F9 were compressed at three different forces 44, 54 and 64 kN using cross-carmellose sodium (CCS) and sodium starch glycolate (SSG) and evaluated for pre and post compression. Formulations F1, F4 and F7 which were compressed at 44 kN showed hardness ranges between 5.09-6.15 with lowest DT (less than 15 s) and better LTZ release. While F2, F5 and F8 (compressed at 54 kN) demonstrated hardness in between 6.90-7.02. Similarly, F3, F6 and F9 compressed at 64 kN showed hardness values between 8.70-8.98 with increased DT and slow LTZ release. Friability results for all the formulations were within United States Pharmacopeial (USP) specifications (<1%). All formulations depicted t-test value <0.5, hence it found that all formulations showed significant statistical value within limits, however best compression force 44 kN showed low p value. It was concluded that optimized compression force for ODTs was 44 kN among all employed forces that exhibited desirable drug release.