scholarly journals Physicians' Attitudes Toward Complementary and Alternative Medicine and Their Knowledge of Specific Therapies: A Survey at an Academic Medical Center

2006 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 495-501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dietlind L. Wahner-Roedler ◽  
Ann Vincent ◽  
Peter L. Elkin ◽  
Laura L. Loehrer ◽  
Stephen S. Cha ◽  
...  

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the attitudes of physicians at an academic medical center toward complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies and the physicians' knowledge base regarding common CAM therapies. A link to a Web-based survey was e-mailed to 660 internists at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, USA. Physicians were asked about their attitudes toward CAM in general and their knowledge regarding specific CAM therapies. The level of evidence a physician would require before incorporating such therapies into clinical care was also assessed. Of the 233 physicians responding to the survey, 76% had never referred a patient to a CAM practitioner. However, 44% stated that they would refer a patient if a CAM practitioner were available at their institution. Fifty-seven percent of physicians thought that incorporating CAM therapies would have a positive effect on patient satisfaction, and 48% believed that offering CAM would attract more patients. Most physicians agreed that some CAM therapies hold promise for the treatment of symptoms or diseases, but most of them were not comfortable in counseling their patients about most CAM treatments. Prospective, randomized controlled trials were considered the level of evidence required for most physicians to consider incorporating a CAM therapy into their practice. The results of this survey provide insight into the attitudes of physicians toward CAM at an academic medical center. This study highlights the need for educational interventions and the importance of providing physicians ready access to evidence-based information regarding CAM.

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 248-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole J. Brewer ◽  
Stephanie L. Turrise ◽  
Yeoun Soo Kim-Godwin ◽  
Richard S. Pond

Purpose: To examine the relationship between nurses’ knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about medicines, in general, and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and identify the predictors of referrals for pain management. Method: This descriptive, correlational study utilized an online survey to collect data from direct care nurses at a large medical center in southeastern United States. The online survey consisted of the Complementary and Alternative Medicines and Beliefs Inventory (CAMBI), the Beliefs about Medicine Questionnaire, and four open-ended questions. Referral data were obtained from the Information Management Department at this medical center. Results: Among the 218 nurses who completed the survey (15.12%), majority (85%) supported CAM use, but only 32% reported utilizing CAM therapies with patients. Medical surgical, emergency department, and perioperative nurses scored higher on their CAMBI total score and were more likely to refer for CAM therapies when compared with intensive care unit nurses. Conclusions: Beliefs about CAM specifically were not related to referrals for CAM therapies. This study suggests the need for further education on the nurse’s role in CAM usage. Understanding the link between nurses’ knowledge, attitudes, and treatment beliefs and their relationship to CAM usage provides direction for future educational interventions.


2017 ◽  
Vol 07 (02) ◽  
pp. 115-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiffany Liu ◽  
Chia Wu ◽  
David Steinberg ◽  
David Bozentka ◽  
L. Levin ◽  
...  

Background Obtaining wrist radiographs prior to surgeon evaluation may be wasteful for patients ultimately diagnosed with de Quervain tendinopathy (DQT). Questions/Purpose Our primary question was whether radiographs directly influence treatment of patients presenting with DQT. A secondary question was whether radiographs influence the frequency of injection and surgical release between cohorts with and without radiographs evaluated within the same practice. Patients and Methods Patients diagnosed with DQT by fellowship-trained hand surgeons at an urban academic medical center were identified retrospectively. Basic demographics and radiographic findings were tabulated. Clinical records were studied to determine whether radiographic findings corroborated history or physical examination findings, and whether management was directly influenced by radiographic findings. Frequencies of treatment with injection and surgery were separately tabulated and compared between cohorts with and without radiographs. Results We included 181 patients (189 wrists), with no differences in demographics between the 58% (110 wrists) with and 42% (79 wrists) without radiographs. Fifty (45%) of imaged wrists demonstrated one or more abnormalities; however, even for the 13 (12%) with corroborating history and physical examination findings, wrist radiography did not directly influence a change in management for any patient in this series. No difference was observed in rates of injection or surgical release either upon initial presentation, or at most recent documented follow-up, between those with and without radiographs. No differences in frequency, types, or total number of additional simultaneous surgical procedures were observed for those treated surgically. Conclusion Wrist radiography does not influence management of patients presenting DQT. Level of Evidence This is a level III, diagnostic study.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 153473542098391
Author(s):  
Chieh-Ying Chin ◽  
Yung-Hsiang Chen ◽  
Shin-Chung Wu ◽  
Chien-Ting Liu ◽  
Yun-Fang Lee ◽  
...  

Background Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is becoming more common in medical practice, but little is known about the concurrent use of CAM and conventional treatment. Therefore, the aim was to investigate the types of CAM used and their prevalence in a regional patient cohort with breast cancer (BC). Methods BC patients were interviewed with a structured questionnaire survey on the use of CAM in southern Taiwan at an Integrative Breast Cancer Center (IBCC). The National Centre for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) classification was used to group responses. Over a period of 8 months, all patients receiving treatment for cancer at the IBCC were approached. Results A total of 106 BC patients completed the survey (response rate: 79.7%). The prevalence of CAM use was 82.4%. Patients who were employed, were receiving radiotherapy and hormone therapy, and had cancer for a longer duration were more likely to use CAM ( P < .05). Multivariate analysis identified employment as an independent predictor of CAM use (OR = 6.92; 95% CI = 1.33-36.15). Dietary supplementation (n = 69, 82.1%) was the type of CAM most frequently used, followed by exercise (n = 48, 57.1%) and traditional Chinese medicine (n = 29, 34.5%). The main reason for using CAM was to ameliorate the side effects of conventional therapies. Almost half (46.4%) of these CAM users did not disclose that they were using it in medical consultations with their physicians. Most chose to use CAM due to recommendations from family and friends. Conclusion A large portion of BC patients at the IBCC undergoing anti-cancer treatment courses used CAM, but less than half discussed it with their physicians. Given the high prevalence of CAM, it would be justifiable to direct further resources toward this service so that cancer patients can benefit from a holistic approach to their treatment.


2011 ◽  
pp. 2085-2095
Author(s):  
John P. Pestian ◽  
Lukasz Itert ◽  
Charlotte Andersen

Approximately 57 different types of clinical annotations construct a patient’s medical record. These annotations include radiology reports, discharge summaries, and surgical and nursing notes. Hospitals typically produce millions of text-based medical records over the course of a year. These records are essential for the delivery of care, but many are underutilized or not utilized at all for clinical research. The textual data found in these annotations is a rich source of insights into aspects of clinical care and the clinical delivery system. Recent regulatory actions, however, require that, in many cases, data not obtained through informed consent or data not related to the delivery of care must be made anonymous (as referred to by regulators as harmless), before they can be used. This article describes a practical approach with which Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC), a large pediatric academic medical center with more than 761,000 annual patient encounters, developed open source software for making pediatric clinical text harmless without losing its rich meaning. Development of the software dealt with many of the issues that often arise in natural language processing, such as data collection, disambiguation, and data scrubbing.


Neurosurgery ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 81 (5) ◽  
pp. 787-794 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald Sahyouni ◽  
Amin Mahmoodi ◽  
Amir Mahmoodi ◽  
Ramin R Rajaii ◽  
Bima J Hasjim ◽  
...  

Abstract BACKGROUND Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and disability in the United States. Educational interventions may alleviate the burden of TBI for patients and their families. Interactive modalities that involve engagement with the educational material may enhance patient knowledge acquisition when compared to static text-based educational material. OBJECTIVE To determine the effects of educational interventions in the outpatient setting on self-reported patient knowledge, with a focus on iPad-based (Apple, Cupertino, California) interactive modules. METHODS Patients and family members presenting to a NeuroTrauma clinic at a tertiary care academic medical center completed a presurvey assessing baseline knowledge of TBI or concussion, depending on the diagnosis. Subjects then received either an interactive iBook (Apple) on TBI or concussion, or an informative pamphlet with identical information in text format. Subjects then completed a postsurvey prior to seeing the neurosurgeon. RESULTS All subjects (n = 152) significantly improved on self-reported knowledge measures following administration of either an iBook (Apple) or pamphlet (P &lt; .01, 95% confidence interval [CI]). Subjects receiving the iBook (n = 122) performed significantly better on the postsurvey (P &lt; .01, 95% CI), despite equivalent presurvey scores, when compared to those receiving pamphlets (n = 30). Lastly, patients preferred the iBook to pamphlets (P &lt; .01, 95% CI). CONCLUSION Educational interventions in the outpatient NeuroTrauma setting led to significant improvement in self-reported measures of patient and family knowledge. This improved understanding may increase compliance with the neurosurgeon's recommendations and may help reduce the potential anxiety and complications that arise following a TBI.


2020 ◽  
Vol 129 (10) ◽  
pp. 1030-1039
Author(s):  
Mikayla J. Huestis ◽  
Katherine R. Keefe ◽  
Chase I. Kahn ◽  
Lauren F. Tracy ◽  
Jessica R. Levi

Objective: Laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) and associated symptoms can be refractory to treatment with acid suppressing medication. We investigated the role and evidence for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for LPR in this systematic review. Review Methods: Complementary and alternative treatment was defined in this systematic review as any non-acid suppressing medication, treatment, or therapy. A literature search was performed by two authors in consultation with a medical librarian using controlled vocabulary for “complementary and alternative medicine” and “laryngopharyngeal reflux” in the databases PubMed and EMBASE, with supplemental searches with Google Scholar. Results: Twenty articles were included in this review for the modalities: alginate, diet modification, prokinetics, respiratory retraining, voice therapy, rikkunshito (RKT), hypnotherapy, and sleep positioning. The studies were analyzed for bias based on the Cochrane criteria for RCTs and Methodological Index for non-RCT (MINORS) criteria for all other studies. For each modality a level of evidence was assigned to the current body of evidence using the GRADE approach. Conclusion: There is mixed evidence with a high degree of bias and heterogeneity between studies for the modalities presented in the paper. Based on this review, an anti-reflux diet is recommended for all patients and there is some low-quality evidence to support alkaline water. For patients with predominant vocal symptoms there is evidence that supports voice therapy. There is insufficient evidence to recommend prokinetics at this time. For patients with predominant globus symptoms, alginate, RKT, and relaxation strategies may be used in conjunction with acid suppressing medications for symptom relief.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document