Christopher deLisle Hammond
Griffith University , Australia
Title: Naturopathic compounding regulations and how compounding pharmacies can be extremely beneficial for patient health
Biography
Biography: Christopher deLisle Hammond
Abstract
Due to the individualised philosophy of naturopaths they prescribe individual herbal formulations for their patients. In practice, this means that the majority of naturopathy consultations result in the extemporaneous compounding of a prescription. Naturopaths using herbal medicines predominately prescribe fluid extracts (which use a mixture of water and ethanol as the solvent, extracting using a process of maceration or cold percolation). The second most common prescription by naturopaths who use herbal medicine are herbal teas – that is combinations of dried herb material to be used by the patient to make tea. In the case of herbal teas, the mixing of different herb material for therapeutic purposes constitutes extemporaneous compounding. While herbal medicines are most commonly prescribed for internal use, a small percentage of herbal prescriptions by herbalists are for other traditional forms of herbal application, including extemporaneously compounded creams and poultices. Naturopaths are limited in their prescriptions by the Poisons Standard 2012; unlike pharmacists they cannot extemporaneously compound or dispense any substance included in Schedule 2, 3, or 4 of this Standard. What this means is that medicines prescribed by naturopaths are of a low risk nature. The use of compounding pharmacies to help a naturopathic practitioner prescribe schedule 2 and 3 compounds can be extremely beneficial for practices.