Faculty survey to assess research literacy and evidence-informed practice interest and support at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine.

Abstract

Educating healthcare practitioners to understand, critically evaluate, and apply evidence to the clinical practice of complementary and alternative medicine has been an important initiative for the National Institutes of Health National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. To determine the self-assessed research skills and interest of faculty at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine (New York campus) and their likely support of, and participatory interest in, an evidence-based medicine (EBM) training program. The survey was administered in Survey Monkey. All questions were close-ended with 5-point Likert answers, except for one open-ended question at the end of the survey. One of three campuses of Pacific College of Oriental Medicine (PCOM), the largest Chinese medicine college in the United States. 102 faculty employed at PCOM. The response rate was 88.7%. Responses illustrated a generally high degree of interest and support for research, EBM, and institutional participation in research activities. Faculty who responded to the open-ended question (19.6% of respondents) expressed concerns about the relevance of research to Chinese medicine and the possibility of co-option by biomedicine. While faculty were overall supportive and interested in research and EBM, the results are consistent with the hypothesis that success of EBM training programs could be enhanced by soliciting and addressing faculty concerns and by being inclusive of approaches that honor the traditions of Chinese medicine and its own forms of clinical evidence.