Pilot study: perception of healthcare providers towards Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Hospital Sultan Abdul Halim (HSAH)

The use of Complementary and Alternative medicine (CAM) has been practiced for thousands of years. Although some people show positive attitude towards CAM, this treatment is discouraged among patients because of their lack of knowledge regarding its safety and efficacy. This study is carried out at Hospital Sultan Abdul Halim, Kedah. However, this hospital does not practice traditional medicines, hence; this study is conducted to evaluate the healthcare providers’ perceptions on traditional medicines. The study subject is the healthcare providers which include doctor, nurse, pharmacist and pharmacy assistant that are chosen randomly to answer the questionnaire prepared by us that was adapted from Dr. Maryam Farooqui’s previous research. The items included in this study are the most preferred and recommended CAM treatment, barriers that exist between CAM and conventional medicines, reasons for using CAM treatment and why many people are utilizing it, integration of CAM and conventional medicines, reasons for CAM non-disclosure and CAM’s definition from the healthcare provider perspective. The data collected were calculated using Microsoft Office Excel 2013 software and transformed into graphic forms. Based on the collected data, the compliance rate was 62.5% where we only managed to get 50 questionnaires out of 80 questionnaires distributed. In addition, it shows that 43 respondents (86%) preferred Biologically Based Treatment. 34 respondents (68%) said the obstacle that exists between CAM and conventional medicine is lack of clear randomized control trials and/or/ proof of efficacy. 24 respondents (48%) claimed that patients are using CAM because of dissatisfaction on the ineffective conventional treatment or side effects. Next, 48 respondents (86%) agreed that conventional medicine can be jointly with CAM treatment. We also discovered that 32 respondents (64%) ask the patients on CAM treatment only when being mentioned. Moreover, 44 respondents (88%) chose to do a research for the specific treatment with the purpose of getting a better understanding of its effectiveness and side effects. Given the reasons for nondisclosure CAM use to the doctors, 27 respondents (54%) said the patient fear of rejection from the healthcare provider. Among the healthcare providers, 26 respondents (52%) showed interest in receiving practical CAM instruction.