Blackmores pharmacy education gong
BLACKMORES Institute has been awarded the inaugural Nutra-Ingredients-Asia Nutrition Research Program of the
Year award, for its innovative CMEd (Complementary Medicines Education) Program.
The award was presented at a ceremony at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands resort last week.
The new CMEd is an education program embedded within a larger research project.
Research centred around pharmacist’s complementary medicine (CM) knowledge and interest in CM education, with an intervention, CMEd, developed to help reduce the knowledge gap.
Blackmores Institute director Dr Lesley Braun said, “I am so very proud that Blackmores Institute’s work has been recognised by our industry peers.
“It has taken several years, many people’s skills and dedication, courage and vision to do something new and innovative and I’d like to thank everyone involved.”
Initially, a theory was developed, based on Braun’s earlier Australian research, that pharmacists know little about complementary medicines, but are keen to learn more.
This theory was tested at Taylor’s University Malaysia, where similar findings were seen among Malaysian pharmacists.
Based on these results, an intervention was developed, CMEd, offering a blended education program with online and faceto-face elements, and the results tracked through feedback.
More than 600 Malaysian pharmacists are accredited in the CMEd program, and given the successful results it will also launch in Thailand later this year.
Further partnerships in Australia, NZ and Singapore will be announced shortly, Blackmores said.
The award was accepted by Blackmores Institute’s Veronita Rusli and Emely Chai