title: Consultation of traditional bone setters instead of doctors: is it a sociocultural and educational or social insurance problem?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Patients consulting bone setters is common in the eastern and south-eastern regions of Turkey. The reasons for consulting bone setters instead of qualified doctors remains unclear. We investigated the characteristics of such patients who consult traditional bone setters after trauma prior to admission to hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  In the study, 3,422 of 14,080 patients were investigated admitted to hospital between January 2012 and February 2013 with trauma or sequelae of such who were previously treated by bone setters. The characteristics of these patients and the main reasons for consultation of bone setters instead of doctors were recorded.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Most of the patients consulting bone setters were found to be young adults or children. Generally speaking, the poorly educated prefer bone setters despite having social insurance. The most common reason (29.3%) was a general preference and secondarily (27.1%) the fear of being disabled after medical treatment. However, the most common cause of patients' consultation at hospital subsequently was due to complications of treatment (46.8%); indeed the complication rate after bone setters' intervention was found to be 54.8%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although improvements have occurred in the access to and utilisation of healthcare services, consultation by patients of bone setters seems to be a sociocultural and educational issue rather than a problem of lack of medical insurance.
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University School of Medicine Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Çanakkale, Turkey uhg31@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Umut Hatay
authors.initials: UH
authors.lastname: Gölge
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University School of Medicine Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Çanakkale, Turkey.
authors.forename: Burak
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kaymaz
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University School of Medicine Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Çanakkale, Turkey.
authors.forename: Erkam
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kömürcü
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Afyon Kocatepe University School of Medicine Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Afyon, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eroğlu
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University School of Medicine Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Çanakkale, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ferdi
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Göksel
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University School of Medicine Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Çanakkale, Turkey.
authors.forename: Gürdal
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Nusran
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005592:Fracture Fixation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D050723:Fractures, Bone / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008519:Medicine, Traditional / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012943:Social Security; D014421:Turkey; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Bone setters; complication; educational problem; social insurance; trauma