title: The Attitudes of Physicians, Nurses, Physical Therapists, and Midwives Toward Complementary Medicine for Chronic Pain: A Survey at an Academic Hospital.
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.
  
  
  METHODS
  The cross-sectional survey took place from October to December 2013.
  
  
  METHODS
  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.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Social and Preventive Medicine, Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Eléonore
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Aveni
authors.affiliation: Division of General Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MI.
authors.forename: Brent
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bauer
authors.affiliation: Institute of Higher Education and Nursing Research, Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Anne-Sylvie
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Ramelet
authors.affiliation: Pain Center, Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Yolande
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kottelat
authors.affiliation: Pain Center, Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Decosterd
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Guillaume
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Finti
authors.affiliation: Institute for Social and Preventive Medicine, Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Pierluigi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ballabeni
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bonvin
authors.affiliation: Institute for Social and Preventive Medicine, Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland. Electronic address: pierre-yves.rodondi@chuv.ch.
authors.forename: Pierre-Yves
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Rodondi
mesh_terms: D015670:Acupuncture Therapy; D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D059350:Chronic Pain / Q000628:therapy*; D000529:Complementary Therapies; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D006990:Hypnosis; D017116:Low Back Pain; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009721:Nurse Midwives; D009726:Nurses; D010021:Osteopathic Medicine; D059408:Pain Management / Q000379:methods*; D059825:Physical Therapists; D010820:Physicians; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013557:Switzerland; D014495:Universities
keywords: Complementary therapies; attitude of health personnel; chronic pain; health knowledge; practice