Complementary and Conventional Medicine in Switzerland: Comparing Characteristics of General Practitioners

Abstract

Objectives: Do structural characteristics of general practitioners(GPs) who practice complementary medicine (CAM)differ from those GPs who do not? Assessed characteristicsincluded experience and professional integration ofgeneral practitioners (GPs), workload, medical activities,and personal and technical resources of practices. The investigatedCAM disciplines were anthroposophic medicine,homoeopathy, traditional Chinese medicine, neural therapyand herbal medicine. Material and Methods: We designed across-sectional study with convenience and stratified samplesof GPs providing conventional (COM) and/or complementaryprimary care in Switzerland. The samples weretaken from the database of the Swiss medical association(FMH) and from CAM societies. Data were collected using apostal questionnaire. Results: Of the 650 practitioners whowere included in the study, 191 were COM, 167 noncertifiedCAM and 292 certified CAM physicians. The proportion offemales was higher in the population of CAM physicians.Gender-adjusted age did not differ between CAM and COMphysicians. Nearly twice as many CAM physicians workpart-time. Differences were also seen for the majority ofstructural characteristics such as qualification of physicians,type of practice, type of staff, and presence of technicalequipment. Conclusion: The study results show thatstructural characteristics of primary health care do differbetween CAM and COM practitioners. We assumed that theactivities of GPs are defined essentially by analyzed structures.The results are to be considered for evaluations inprimary health care, particularly when quality of health careis assessed.