Integration of Latin American Complementary and Alternative Medicine Topics Into a Doctor of Pharmacy Curriculum and Survey of Student Attitudes and Behaviors

One in 3 adults report using complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and as many as 7 in 10 Hispanic patients report CAM use. Pharmacists often encounter patients who use CAM products and therefore college of pharmacy curricular standards require both CAM and cultural competence training; however, there is little guidance for colleges on how to best deliver this material. In Fall 2017, Larkin University College of Pharmacy implemented a curricular change wherein first professional (P1) year pharmacy students selected, researched, and presented on a CAM product from Latin America. Pre-post surveys were administered to the students to measure their attitudes and behaviors toward CAM before and after completing their project. Survey results showed that student attitudes and behaviors toward CAM were largely unchanged; however, post-survey results showed that students agreed that they knew where to search for Latin American CAM information (P < 0.05). Integration of Latin American CAM topics was successfully implemented in the P1 year of a Doctor of Pharmacy degree curriculum to foster cultural competence.