Researching bridge building between conventional health care providers and alternative therapists at a specialized MS hospital

Abstract

The Danish Multiple Sclerosis Society (a patient organization) has initiated a research-based bridge-building and treatment project to take place from 2004 to 2010 at a specialized MS hospital. The background for initiating the project was the recognition of the facts that Persons with Multiple Sclerosis (PwMS) like other persons with chronic diseases increasingly use both alternative and conventional treatment and that the role of the patient is changing and challenging the role of the health care provider. The modern PwMS are expanding their universe of knowledge and are moving towards a manager position in their choice of treatment and self care that improve their living with MS. The PwMS continuously assess the treatment processes and results in the context of their daily life and demand more comprehensive treatment/care approaches taking into account their goals and changes in their goals. The purposes of the project are: (1) to evaluate the bridge-building process developing between five conventional health care providers and five alternative therapists involved in order to develop a model in practice for bridge building between conventional and alternative practitioners and (2) to evaluate the health-related change processes initiated by the team-based treatment. In previous research, little attention has been paid to the bridge-building process between conventional health care providers and alternative therapists in developing patient-centred treatment approaches. To promote a constructive dialogue between the health care providers and alternative therapists on the differences and similarities in their thoughts and actions related to the treatment of PwMS and their goals, we developed a tool to facilitate confrontation and to make conflicts visible, explicit and legitimate. The tool is called the IMCO scheme which is an abbreviation of Intervention, Mechanism, Context and Outcomes. In the paper we will outline the use of the tool as well as the experience and knowledge gathered when building the tool facilitates. We will give examples from IMCO schemas filled in by the neurologist, the occupational therapist, the physical therapist, the psychologist, the nurse, the acupuncturist, the nutritional therapist, the classical homeopath, the craniosacral therapist and the reflexologist. The potential for developing a dynamic program theory on the significance for patients of the combined efforts by the team will be explored.