One of the top questions at the recent AACMA conference in Brisbane was: “Am I allowed to prescribe/dispense herbal medicines if I am registered as an Acupuncturist under the National Registration scheme?”
The short answer to this question is yes, you are able to prescribe and dispense any TGA-listed or TGA-registered products that are widely available. However, if you want to recommend or suggest specific herbs in formulations (=customisations) then you would have to disclose to your client that you are not registered as a Chinese herbal practitioner, because if you advice your patients of certain herbs or herbal preparations you are professionally accountable for that advice…
So, how do we interpret this statement? Because the National Registration Framework is purely about the protection of the public and titles, nothing is really stopping you from prescribing herbal formulations beyond patents or ready-made medicines if you know what you are doing.
The implication of potentially adverse affects of certain formulations especially if they are not fitting the pattern might be devastating for both – yourself and your client. So, in essence, if you are confident in prescribing individual herbs nothing is stopping you from doing so but beware if your herbal knowledge is not up to scratch.
For more information about this topic, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
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