What Do Physicians Think About Alternative Medicine?

by Cathy Wong

A survey of 276 Colorado physicians was published in the May 2002 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. Physicians were asked about their attitudes toward alternative medicine and their pattern of recommendation and personal use. Here are the interesting findings:

At the doctor's office, patients are sometimes asked about their use of alternative therapies.

• 8% always ask about alternative therapy use

• 23% asked their patients about alternative therapy use more than half of the time

• 52% asked about alternative therapy use less than half of the time

• 17% never ask

Many doctors do not feel comfortable discussing alternative therapies with their patients.

• 9% had a very positive attitude toward discussing alternative therapies with patients

• 35% had a somewhat positive attitude

• 40% were neutral

• 14% had a somewhat negative attitude

• 2% had a very negative attitude

Patients want information from their doctors about the safety and effectiveness of alternative therapies. 

In this study, 59% of the doctors had been asked about alternative therapies. Patients requested information about:

• Acupuncture (59%)

• Herbal (botanical) medicine (55%)

• Chiropractic (52%)

• Alternative medicine in general (49%)

• Massage therapy (41%)

• Special diet (35%)

• Megavitamins (32%)

• Biofeedback (29%)

• Relaxation (28%)

• Homeopathy (21%)

• Folk Medicine (17%)

• Yoga (16%)

• Hypnosis (14%)

Nearly half (48%) of the doctors surveyed had recommended alternative medicine to a patient.

Interestingly, 24% of the doctors had personally used alternative medicine, and this was strongly associated with the likelihood of recommending alternative medicine to patients. Some of the therapies doctors personally used were: massage therapy (24%), relaxation techniques (17%), alternative medicine in general (16%), herbal therapy (14%), yoga (11%), and acupuncture (10%).

Doctors are interested in learning more about alternative medicine to address patient concerns. 

In this survey, 60% of doctors wanted to learn more, 24% said they were unsure or maybe wanted to learn more, and 16% said they did not want to learn more. The doctors recommended these therapies to their patients:

• Massage therapy (48%)

• Relaxation techniques (41%)

• Acupuncture (35%)

• Biofeedback (35%)

• Chiropractic (30%)

• Alternative medicine in general (28%)

• Herbal medicine (21%)

• Yoga (16%)

• Hypnosis (15%) 

Note: Surveys were delivered to 705 physicians. Of these, 302 (43%) were returned. This must be considered when interpreting the survey results because they may not accurately reflect the physician population.

Reference

Corbin Winslow L, Shapiro H. Physicians want education about complementary and alternative medicine to enhance communication with their patients. Archives of Internal Medicine. 2002:162:1176-81.