alternitve medicane

[Guest guest]

More Americans than ever are using some form of alternative and

complementary medicine. While doctors used to be resistant to it, now

they want -- and need -- to learn more about it, new research

suggests. Although they know far more than they used to, it's still

not as much as they think they should know to properly guide and

treat patients.I think one message is that physicians may not be as

closed minded as patients think, lead author Corbin Winslow, MD,

tells WebMD. There are always going to be some physicians who are

dismissive of these therapies, but most really do want to know more

about them. Winslow is director of the University of Colorado's

Center for Integrative Medicine.A survey of 700 Denver-area doctors

found that almost all of those questioned felt they needed to learn

more about alternative approaches to care. And doctors are well aware

that these treatments are widely used by their patients. Three out of

four reported having patients who used complementary and alternative

medicines and close to 60% said they had been asked about specific

alternative treatments. And contrary to what many people think,

almost half of the doctors had recommended an alternative therapy.The

700 Denver doctors were most likely to recommend acupuncture and

relaxation techniques such as biofeedback and massage to their

patients. Although 68% of doctors said they had patients who used

herbal therapies, only about 20% said they would recommend them.But

the survey indicated that doctors do not often ask patients about

their use of alternative treatments, and that many feel uncomfortable

discussing the risks and benefits of such treatments. Over 80% of the

doctors surveyed said they needed to know more about alternative

medical approaches to discuss them intelligently with their patients.

Female physicians were more likely to recommend alternative

approaches than were males, and doctors who reported personal use of

an alternative therapy were seven times as likely to recommend them

to patients.Alternative medicine expert Lord, MD, says it is

clear that more and more doctors are seeking out information on

complementary medicine. When she started teaching a training program

on mind/body medicine seven years ago, only about 10% of her students

were doctors. These days, she says, doctors make up 30-40% of the

class. Lord is a family practitioner who teaches at town

University in Washington.Patients look to their doctors to have the

answers when it comes to their health, she says.I think a lot of this

[doctor] interest is due to grass-roots pressure from patients who

are demanding that their doctors know about these therapies.