title: General practitioners and alternative medicine.
abstract: A questionnaire on the views, beliefs and attitudes of doctors regarding alternative medicine was sent to 274 general practitioners. Of the 222 who replied, 31% said that they had a working knowledge of at least one form of alternative medicine, 29% had read publications on alternative medicine and 41% had attended lectures or classes in alternative medicine. Twelve per cent had received training and 42% wanted further training in an alternative form of medicine; 16% currently practised a form of alternative medicine. The majority of doctors (95%) said that patients had discussed alternative medicine with them during the past year and over half (59%) had referred patients to alternative practitioners. Forty-one per cent of doctors believed that alternative systems of medicine were valid and over half of the doctors (54%) defined alternative medicine as additional to western medicine, not taught in western medical schools or not available on the National Health Service, compared with only 16% who defined alternative medicine as unscientific.
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Anderson
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Anderson
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001294:Attitude to Health; D000529:Complementary Therapies; D006801:Humans; D010821:Physicians, Family / Q000523:psychology*