Perceptions of undergraduate pharmacy students on homeopathy

Resumo

Homeopathy establishes principles to understand living beings as wholes; this art involves the analysis of pathological signs and symptoms, and the manipulation of specific drugs to induce integral recovery of health in living beings. A resolution by the Brazilian Federal Council of Pharmacy (2005) establishes the minimum requirements for pharmacists to assume the task of preparing homeopathic medicines. To understand the ideas of undergraduate pharmacy students at Lutheran University Center of Ji-Paraná, Brazil (Centro Universitário Luterano de Ji,-Paraná (CEULJI/ULBRA), a questionnaire was applied to assess their understanding relative to some definitions and concepts used in homeopathy and integrative medicine as a whole. Out of the full sample (n = 120), a considerable proportion of participants (96%) declared to know what homeopathy is, and 30% had obtained this information from people close to them. less than half of the participants were able to characterize or define homeopathy correctly as a therapeutic tool, while some mistook it for Bach flower therapy (28.8%). Among the participants who reported having used homeopathy, 81% did it without a medical prescription, and a considerable part of them was unaware of the existence of the National Policy for Integrative and Complementary Practices (PNPIC) of the Unified Health System (SUS). We conclude that didactic interventions on this subject are needed looking to a better explanation about the definitions and concepts related to the practice of the homeopathy and the integrative therapies, for those future pharmacists.