Complementary therapies in medicine
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Complement Ther Med · Sep 2001
How traditional Chinese medicine acupuncturists would diagnose and treat chronic low back pain: results of a survey of licensed acupuncturists in Washington State.
This survey was undertaken to learn how Traditional Chinese Medicine acupuncturists' diagnose and treat patients with chronic low back pain in order to develop a standardized treatment for a clinical trial of that condition. ⋯ The use of practitioner surveys can enhance the systematic development of acupuncture treatment protocols and should be part of this process in future clinical trials of common conditions.
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Complement Ther Med · Sep 2001
Variation in diagnosis and treatment of chronic low back pain by traditional Chinese medicine acupuncturists.
To assess interrater reliability of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) diagnosis and treatment of chronic low back pain. ⋯ TCM diagnoses and treatment recommendations for specific patients with chronic low back pain vary widely across practitioners. Acupuncture clinical trials using an individualized treatment arm may be difficult to replicate or evaluate because of low concordance among acupuncturists. Comparison of individualized treatment with a thoughtfully developed standardized approach is warranted to determine which, if either, is superior.
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Complement Ther Med · Sep 2001
Which complementary and alternative therapies benefit which conditions? A survey of the opinions of 223 professional organizations.
With the increasing demand and usage of complementary/alternative medicine (CAM) by the general public, it is vital that healthcare professionals can make informed decisions when advising or referring their patients who wish to use CAM. Therefore they might benefit from advice by CAM-providers as to which treatment can be recommended for which condition. ⋯ The recommendations by CAM organizations responding to this survey may provide guidance to health care professionals wishing to advise or refer patients interested in using CAM.
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Complement Ther Med · Sep 2001
Attitudes to and use of complementary medicine among physicians in the United Kingdom.
To evaluate the use of attitudes to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among UK physicians. ⋯ Our conclusions must be tempered by the limited response rate, but assuming all non-responders were disinterested in CAM, then at least one in ten UK specialist physicians are actively involved in CAM treatments, although only 13% of our sample had received any CAM training.