Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Turkiye Klinikleri Journal of Medical Sciences, cilt.33, sa.3, ss.621-629, 2013 (Scopus)
Objective: Although interest in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies has been growing rapidly, studies about physicians? approaches to CAM therapies are limited in Turkey. The objective of the present study was to determine the university hospital physicians? opinions and attitudes on CAM therapies. Material and Methods: The study was conducted between April-June 2009 at the İbn-i Sina Hospital of School of Medicine of Ankara University. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among physicians about knowledge and use of CAM, and desire for being trained on it. There were 400 physicians practicing at the hospital. All physicians were invited to participate in the study. The invitation letters and questionnaires were sent through the head of departments and were collected back through the same route. The questionnaire was self-completed by all participants. All data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the social sciences (SPSS) version 11.5. Chi-square analysis was used to test for significant differences between groups. Categorical data were defined as "frequencies and percentages". A p value less than 0.05 was considered significant. Results: A total of 151 completed questionnaires were returned. The highest level of information among doctors regarding CAM was on acupuncture. Forty one percent of the respondents reported having used any kind of CAM treatments individually so far. Herbal medicine (14%), massage (11%), and acupuncture (9%) were the most common CAM types used by physicians. The precentage of physicians who held positive and negative attitudes toward patients requesting information on CAM were 42.4% and 25.8%, respectively. The top three factors influencing physicians to consider prescribing any CAM modalities were experimental studies or researches, proved efficacy mechanism, and published case reports. Fifty-seven percent of the physicians stated that if they were given a chance they would like to be trained on any CAM modality. Conclusion: The result of the present study implies that the knowledge level of physicians on CAM is low. This may be attributed to the unavailability of access to CAM training in medical schools in Turkey. Scientific evidence is the most important factor taken into account by physicians. More evidence based-studies are needed on the subject in order to draw the attention of the physicians on CAM. © 2013 by Türkiye Klinikleri.