Many Doctors are Clueless about Alternative Medicine Research
(NaturalNews) It's no secret that Americans are turning to complementary and alternative medicine (
However, a new study just published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine indicates a large number of American health practitioners, including MDs, simply aren't aware of the serious scientific attention being given to
"For evidence from clinical research to have an impact on medical practice, health care professionals must first be aware of the research. Once aware, health care professionals must be able to interpret these findings, judging both their validity and their implications. Finally, they must apply the scientific evidence to their own practices," the authors of the study wrote.
To gather information about health care professionals' awareness of CAM research, Jon C. Tilburt, M.D., M.P.H., of the NIH and Mayo Clinic and his research team surveyed 2,400 internists and rheumatologists as well as practicing acupuncturists and naturopaths about their awareness of
Out of the total of 1,561 clinicians (65 percent) who completed the survey, 59 percent were aware of at least one of two major clinical trials recently published on CAM therapies for osteoarthritis of the knee (one researched acupuncture and the other studied the impact of the supplement glucosamine). However, only 23 percent were aware of both trials. Acupuncturists (46 percent) and rheumatologists (49 percent) were more often aware of the acupuncture study than the naturopaths (30 percent) and only 22 percent of the general internists knew about the research. But alternative health practitioners aren't always aware of the latest in
A minority of clinicians in all groups said they were "very confident" in their ability to critically interpret CAM research literature (20 percent of acupuncturists, 25 percent of naturopaths, 17 percent of internists and 33 percent of rheumatologists); more described themselves as "moderately confident" (59 percent of acupuncturists, 64 percent of naturopaths, 67 percent of internists and 59 percent of rheumatologists).
Bottom line: the translation of