BACKGROUND: The increase in the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) by the general public has led to increasing interest in how health professionals view these therapies. OBJECTIVE: To determine the knowledge and attitudes of pharmacists toward CAM. METHODS: An anonymous, self-administered questionnaire was designed and mailed to 1500 randomly selected pharmacists in New South Wales, Australia. RESULTS: Four hundred eighty-four responses were received, with 77% of respondents indicating that they had personally used CAM and 60% correctly identifying that CAM was comprised of more than just botanicals and nutritional agents. The most commonly used CAMs were herbal and vitamin supplements (74%), which was significantly above use of the next most frequent CAM, massage therapy (6%). Most pharmacists (71%) reported offering CAM products for sale; however, 27% of these practices did not have access to CAM information for pharmacy staff or patients. Pharmacists generally viewed CAM positively and believed that they enhanced the customers' image of pharmacy (57%), increased customer numbers (87%), and could increase annual sales (72%). Ninety-one percent of respondents believed that it is necessary for pharmacists to have knowledge of both CAM and conventional medicine to be able to inform patients about their treatment options. Books and journal articles were their primary information sources, with the main reasons for recommending CAM evidence of efficacy and to maintain general health. CONCLUSIONS: CAM use is prevalent among Australian pharmacists. While pharmacists are aware of their role as educators about both CAM and conventional medicines, there is a need for greater access to CAM resources and education on these therapies.

Health professional students must be equipped with the skills necessary to interact with patients. Effective interpersonal skills are difficult to both learn and teach, requiring development, practise and evaluation in both educational and clinical settings. In professions such as physiotherapy, there have traditionally been two approaches to teaching these skills: clinical modelling, and stand-alone didactic teaching of the theory behind communication. These approaches provide limited opportunity for students to practise and receive feedback on their interpersonal and communication skills. This paper describes the implementation of an experiential small group learning approach in an undergraduate physiotherapy program and discusses outcomes and challenges from both student and staff perspectives. Implications for practice are that: experientially based small group learning with opportunities for practise, reflection, self-evaluation and feedback, can improve students’ interpersonal skills; consistent and scaffolded participation in experiential learning opportunities and assessment across the program is key to this approach; a small group experiential learning approach can contribute to increased student satisfaction with the support they receive; and interpersonal skills still remain a challenge for new graduates. Support and mentoring in this domain may enhance the transition to work.