Objective: Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) refers to a collection of therapies and practices.Although not common in hospitals, it is widely accepted among patients.. Considering the high prevalence of the use of such therapeutic methods and their high importance in improving the patients’ symptoms, and given its potential for interference with the current treatment methods and the lack of indigenous information in this field, the present study was conducted to investigate the use of complementary and alternative medicine in patients referring to Gastroenterology and Liver clinics in Mashhad.
Materials and Methods: In this study, 751 patients referred to Gastroenterology and Liver clinics with appropriate dispersion in Mashhad both in private and public centers were randomly selected. They were all informed of the purpose and stages of the study and their consents were obtained. The questionnaires were completed in interviews the results of which were analyzed by the researcher. In this study, no intervention was performed on patients.
Results: The most common complaints were related to gastric and duodenal problems, abdominal pain, and gastrointestinal bleeding. 61.8% of the respondents used at least one method of the complementary and alternative medicine throughout their lives. 79.3% of consumers considered these methods useful. Also, 23.5% of people who did not use any complementary and alternative medical therapies, were in favor of such methods based on social and religious beliefs. The most popular treatments were herbal medicines, cupping, acupuncture, and leech therapy. The highest degree of satisfaction was among those with a bachelor's degree and above, whereas the least degree of satisfaction was among those with a diploma and under diploma education. There was a significant difference in the frequency of the subjects in the group receiving the chemical drugs and the group using complementary and alternative medicine.
Conclusion:The results of this study suggest that general practitioners need to be trained in order to properly meet the needs of the people and create a sense of trust between the doctor and the patient. Also, to protect the health of society, prescribing and supplying herbal medicines should be supervised by the monitoring systems
