Disclosure of Traditional and Complementary Medicine Use and Its Associated Factors to Medical Doctor in Primary Care Clinics in Kuching Division, Sarawak, Malaysia.

Whye Lian Cheah,Safii Razitasham,Anak Kelak Johny

doi:10.1155/2017/5146478

Abstract

The decision by the patients to disclose traditional and complementary medicine (TCM) use to their doctor is an important area to be explored. This study aimed to determine the disclosure of TCM use and its associated factors to medical doctor among primary care clinic attendees in Kuching Division, Sarawak. It was a cross-sectional study using questionnaire, interviewer administered questionnaire. A total of 1130 patients were screened with 80.2% reporting using TCM. Logistic regression analysis revealed that being female (AOR = 3.219, 95% CI: 1.385, 7.481), perceived benefits that TCM can prevent complication of illness (AOR = 3.999, 95% CI: 1.850, 8.644) and that TCM is more gentle and safer (AOR = 4.537, 95% CI: 2.332, 8.828), perceived barriers of not having enough knowledge about TCM (AOR = 0.530, 95% CI: 0.309, 0.910), patient dissatisfaction towards healthcare providers being too business-like and impersonal (AOR = 0.365, 95% CI: 0.199, 0.669) and paying more for healthcare than one can afford (AOR = 0.413, 95% CI: 0.250, 0.680), and accessibility of doctors (AOR = 3.971, 95% CI: 2.245, 7.023) are the predictors of disclosure of TCM use. An open communication between patients and doctor is important to ensure safe implementation and integration of both TCM and medical treatment.

Highlights

The use of traditional and complementary medicine (TCM), a group of diverse medical and healthcare practices and products that are not considered part of conventional medicine, has increased in popularity within the world including Malaysia in the past decade [1,2,3]
We addressed the following research question; what is the rate of disclosure of TCM use and factors associated with the decision for disclosure of TCM use to medical doctor among primary care clinic attendees in Kuching Division, Sarawak? this study aimed to determine the disclosure of TCM use and its associated factors to medical doctor among primary care clinic attendees in Kuching Division, Sarawak
A total of 1130 patients were screened for TCM use and 906 patients (80.2%) reported using TCM

Summary

Introduction

The use of traditional and complementary medicine (TCM), a group of diverse medical and healthcare practices and products that are not considered part of conventional medicine, has increased in popularity within the world including Malaysia in the past decade [1,2,3]. It is estimated that Malaysia spends approximately US$500 million annually on traditional therapies, compared to only US$ 300 million on conventional therapies [7]. This increasing utilization of TCM especially in Malaysia may lead to a situation in which people are using TCM, and substituting conventional medicine with TCM suggesting that it is important to understand why people choose to use TCM

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Discussion

Conclusion