Confronting the communication gap between conventional and alternative medicine: a survey of physicians' attitudes.
Adult; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Ohio; *Attitude of Health Personnel; Surveys and Questionnaires; *Physician-Patient Relations; *Complementary Therapies; *Physicians
CONTEXT: An estimated 60 million Americans use some from of complementary and alternative medicine, though approximately 70% do not tell their physicians about this use. Open communication between conventional medical providers and patients in this area is therefore lacking. OBJECTIVE: To explore the dynamics that could potentially contribute to communication breakdown between physicians and patients over the use of alternative therapies. DESIGN: Mail-in, self-administered questionnaire. PARTICIPANTS: 96 practitioners in primary care and medical subspecialties representing the local county medical society, Stark county, Ohio. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Data were obtained on the following: (1) physicians' level of familiarity with 23 different alternative therapies, (2) the question of whether physicians used the therapies themselves, (3) physicians' assessment of the potential benefits and harm of each therapy, and (4) physicians' response to the prospect of their patients using these therapies. RESULTS: Respondents reported the use of myriad alternative therapies. Only 28%, however, referred patients for alternative therapies. The physicians demonstrated clear preferences for specific therapies (i.e., when asked about benefits, familiarity, and reactions to patient use, they responded differently depending on the therapy). Indication that the doctor-patient relationship might be terminated as a result of alternative therapy use was more common among subspecialists than among primary care practitioners. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, physicians demonstrated an open attitude toward alternative therapies. This finding indicates that patients should disclose their use of alternative therapies to their doctors. Increased referral to alternative healthcare providers may require both ongoing peer-reviewed studies of efficacy and increased physician access to information concerning therapies that have undergone definitive study.
Crock R D; Jarjoura D; Polen A; Rutecki G W
Alternative therapies in health and medicine
1999
1999-03
Article information provided for research and reference use only. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).
Confronting the communication gap between conventional and alternative medicine: a survey of physicians' attitudes.
Adult; Female; Male; Human; Questionnaires; Descriptive Statistics; P-Value; Repeated Measures; Middle Age; Internal Consistency; T-Tests; Physician Attitudes; Alternative Therapies – Psychosocial Factors
Crock R D; Jarjoura D; Polen A; Rutecki G W
Alternative Therapies in Health & Medicine
1999
1999-03
Article information provided for research and reference use only. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).
One-day Quadruple Therapy Compared With 7-day Triple Therapy For Helicobacter Pylori Infection
clarithromycin; cure; duodenal-ulcer disease; eradication; follow-up; General & Internal Medicine; nonulcer dyspepsia; peptic-ulcer; proton-pump inhibitor; term; united-states; urea breath test
Background: Eradication of Helicobacter pylori infection has had an impact on the treatment and recurrence rates of peptic ulcer disease and malignancies such as mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma. Treatment options are cumbersome, expensive, and associated with side effects. Methods: Randomized, prospective, open-labeled equivalence trial with a parallel-group design to compare eradication rates of H pylori with a 1-day, 4-drug regimen with a 7-day, 3-drug regimen. A total of 160 patients with dyspepsia and a Glasgow Dyspepsia Severity Score of at least 3 had a urea breath test labeled with carbon 14. Patients who tested positive were randomized to 1 of the 2 study groups. The study was designed to test the therapeutic equivalence of 1-day and 7-day regimens based on the percentage of H pylori eradication in each group at 5 weeks. Results: The 1-day treatment group (n = 80) had a slightly higher eradication percentage (95%) than the 7-day group (90%). The possible inferiority of the 1-day treatment relative to the 7-day treatment, a 15% difference in the number of patients whose infection was not eradicated at 5 weeks, was rejected (P < .001; 90% confidence interval, 2.7%-11%). Both groups demonstrated a mean decrease of 7.5 points in the Glasgow Dyspepsia Severity Score. The 2 groups showed no significant differences in side effects. Patients whose treatment failed (4 in the 1-day treatment group and 7 in the 7-day treatment group) were retreated for 10 days. One patient from the 7-day treatment group still tested positive after the second treatment. Conclusions: The 1-day treatment proved to be statistically similar to the 7-day treatment for the eradication of H pylori in patients with dyspepsia and a positive urea breath test. Further evaluation will be necessary to determine whether the 1-day regimen is adequate for patients with peptic ulcer disease, mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma, or gastric adenocarcinoma.
Lara L F; Cisneros G; Gurney M; Van Ness M; Jarjoura D; Moauro B; Polen A; Rutecki G; Whittier F
Archives of Internal Medicine
2003
2003-09
Journal Article or Conference Abstract Publication
<a href="http://doi.org/10.1001/archinte.163.17.2079" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10.1001/archinte.163.17.2079</a>