Educational opportunities abound: Information gleaned from a survey of Pennsylvania pharmacists reveals insight into their knowledge and attitudes about probiotic therapies

Patients often ask pharmacists ask advice concerning use of dietary supplements. To assess pharmacists attitudes and knowledge concerning use of probiotics for gastrointestinal, vaginal, and immunologic conditions, a questionnaire was distributed to Pennsylvania pharmacists. Two thousand two hundred thirty-eight pharmacists were invited to participate in a survey evaluating pharmacists' attitudes toward probiotics, the frequency with which pharmacists receive inquiries about probiotics from patients, and the frequency with which pharmacists recommend using probiotics for different medical conditions. Two hundred ninety-three pharmacists responded. Most were familiar with the term 'probiotic' and expressed some level of comfort ("somewhat comfortable" to "extremely comfortable") recommending probiotic therapies to select patients, but 8.0% were "not at all comfortable" recommending probiotics for patient use. Pharmacists are more than four times more likely to recommend probiotics to adults than to children. Furthermore, survey responses indicate that pharmacists are more likely to recommend probiotics for antibiotic-associated side effects than any other condition. The majority of pharmacists (91.3%) indicated willingness to learn more about probiotics. These findings show that most pharmacists are familiar and comfortable with the idea of using probiotics as therapeutic agents and are willing to learn more about the potential utility of these biotherapies.