Open the Doorway: How Can Physicians Find Out What Dietary Supplements Then-Patients Are Actually Taking, and Why Should They?

摘要

At present, herbs and nutritional supplements are regulated as dietary supplements in the United States of America by the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) passed in October 1994. The prevalence of herb use by U.S. adults in 2002 was reported to be 18.6%, although over 60% of users do not disclose use to physicians (Tindle, Davis, Phillips, & Eisenberg 2005). "Do you need to know my list of medicines?" my mother inquired hi her physician's exam room. I was sitting next to her, accompanying her at her request to a follow-up office visit. "No, they are already here in the computer," the young assistant replied. I did not know who she was; she had not introduced herself, nor made eye contact upon coming through the door and sitting down hi front of the laptop on the desk. She may have been a nurse, or a physician assistant.