The effect of introducing Complementary medicine course in the curricula of undergraduate medical students on changing the attitudes towards CAM

Abstract

Purpose: This pilot study aims to evaluate medical and pharmacy faculty and students’ attitudes and perceptions toward complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in Turkey. Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was developed based on the previous studies carried out in Turkey and other countries. It was administered to 23 medical faculty and students at the Medipol University and 44 pharmacy faculty and students at the Istanbul University who attended the introductory course on Korean Medicine. The attitudes and perceptions on CAM among study population were evaluated and the difference betweenmedical faculty and students and pharmacy faculty and students was compared. T-test and fisher’s exact test were used. Results: The response rate was 39% at the medical school and 57% at the pharmacy school. Majority of the respondents strongly agreedwith the effectiveness of CAM and importance of integrative medicine. They also agreed with the statement that physicians should know about CAM and recommend it to the patients. Other than a few statements including perceptions on the effectiveness and placebo effect of CAM, there was no significant difference between medical and pharmacy students and faculty. The most well-known CAM modalities were acupuncture, herbal medicine, massage, naturopathy and hypnosis. Most of them(99%) have interest in CAM and agreed that CAM should be integrated into curriculum. Conclusion: The result suggests that majority of the respondents have positive attitude toward CAM and have interest in CAM. They also showed favorable attitude toward integration of CAM in their curriculum. However, due to small sample size and limitation of representativeness of the respondents, the results from this pilot study should be cautiously interpreted. Contact: Yu Lee Park, kiki2877@naver.com