Eléonore Aveni1, Brent Bauer2, Anne-Sylvie Ramelet3, Yolande Kottelat4, Isabelle Decosterd4, Guillaume Finti5, Pierluigi Ballabeni1, Eric Bonvin6, Pierre-Yves Rodondi7. 1. Institute for Social and Preventive Medicine, Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland. 2. Division of General Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MI. 3. Institute of Higher Education and Nursing Research, Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland. 4. Pain Center, Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland. 5. Department of Orthopedics, Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland. 6. Department of Psychiatry, Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland. 7. Institute for Social and Preventive Medicine, Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland. Electronic address: pierre-yves.rodondi@chuv.ch.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To assess the attitudes of physicians, nurses, physical therapists, and midwives toward complementary medicine (CM) at a Swiss academic hospital and toward its use for treating chronic pain. DESIGN: The cross-sectional survey took place from October to December 2013. SETTING: An e-mail sent to 4925 healthcare professionals (1969 physicians, 2372 nurses, 145 physical therapists, and 111 midwives) working at Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland, invited them to answer a web-based questionnaire. RESULTS: The questionnaire was answered by 1247 healthcare professionals (response rate: 25.3%). Of these, 96.1% strongly agreed or agreed that CM could be useful for the treatment of chronic pain, with more nurses (96.7%) and midwives (100%) than physicians (93.8%) agreeing that CM could be useful (P < .001 for both comparisons). Women had more positive attitude toward CM than men (97.8% versus 91.2%; P < .001). Of the respondents, 96.9% were strongly in favor or in favor of offering CM, especially hypnosis (89.8%), osteopathy (85.5%), and acupuncture (83.4%), at the hospital for treating chronic pain. Respondents listed migraine (74.7%), tension headaches (70.6%), and low back pain (70.1%) as three main conditions for which they would refer patients for acupuncture. The three therapies with which respondents were the most unfamiliar were neuraltherapy (57.2%), mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) (54.1%), and biofeedback (51.9%). Over half of respondents, 58.3%, had never referred a patient to a CM practitioner. A total of 84.3% of the respondents felt that they lacked the knowledge to inform their patients about CM.
OBJECTIVE: To assess the attitudes of physicians, nurses, physical therapists, and midwives toward complementary medicine (CM) at a Swiss academic hospital and toward its use for treating chronic pain. DESIGN: The cross-sectional survey took place from October to December 2013. SETTING: An e-mail sent to 4925 healthcare professionals (1969 physicians, 2372 nurses, 145 physical therapists, and 111 midwives) working at Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland, invited them to answer a web-based questionnaire. RESULTS: The questionnaire was answered by 1247 healthcare professionals (response rate: 25.3%). Of these, 96.1% strongly agreed or agreed that CM could be useful for the treatment of chronic pain, with more nurses (96.7%) and midwives (100%) than physicians (93.8%) agreeing that CM could be useful (P < .001 for both comparisons). Women had more positive attitude toward CM than men (97.8% versus 91.2%; P < .001). Of the respondents, 96.9% were strongly in favor or in favor of offering CM, especially hypnosis (89.8%), osteopathy (85.5%), and acupuncture (83.4%), at the hospital for treating chronic pain. Respondents listed migraine (74.7%), tension headaches (70.6%), and low back pain (70.1%) as three main conditions for which they would refer patients for acupuncture. The three therapies with which respondents were the most unfamiliar were neuraltherapy (57.2%), mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) (54.1%), and biofeedback (51.9%). Over half of respondents, 58.3%, had never referred a patient to a CM practitioner. A total of 84.3% of the respondents felt that they lacked the knowledge to inform their patients about CM.