COMPLEMENTARY HEALTH-CARE SERVICES - A SURVEY OF GENERAL-PRACTITIONERS VIEWS

Objective: To determine the referral practices, perceived usefulness, knowledge, prior training and desire for training of general practitio ners (GPs) in Quebec with regard to complementary health care services such as acupuncture, chiropractic and hypnosis. Design: Cross-section al mail survey. Setting: Province of Quebec. Participants: Random samp le of 200 GPs. Of the 146 who responded, 25 were excluded because they were no longer in practice; this left 121 (83%). Outcome measures: Se lf-reported referral practices for complementary health care services, perceived usefulness and self-assessed knowledge of such services, an d prior training and desire for training in these services. Results: S ixty percent (72/121) of the CPs knew at least one practitioner of a c omplementary health care service For referral, 59% (70/119) reported r eferring patients to physicians who practise such services and 68% (80 /118) to nonmedical practitioners. At least one of the three services studied were regarded as having some use by 83% (101/121). Overall, se lf-reported knowledge was poor: the proportions of GPs who reported kn owing a lot about acupuncture, chiropractic and hypnosis were 11% (13/ 121), 10% (12/121) and 8% (10/121) respectively. Prior training was al so lacking: only 8% (9/118) of the GPs had received previous training in acupuncture, 2% (2/111) in chiropractic and 3% (3/103) in hypnosis. In all, 48% (57/118) indicated that they would like further training in at least one of the services studied, and 13% (16/121) indicated th at they currently provided one service. Conclusions: Referral of patie nts by CPs to practitioners of complementary health care services is c ommon in Quebec. Although self-assessed knowledge about such services is relatively poor, interest in learning more about them is high. Thes e findings identify a demand for future educational initiatives.