Background: Effective interdisciplinary communication is important to achieve better quality in health care. The\naims of this study were to compare conventional and complementary providers� experience of communication\nabout complementary therapies and conventional medicine with their cancer patients, and to investigate how they\nexperience interdisciplinary communication and cooperation.\nMethod: This study analyzed data from a self-administrated questionnaire. A total of 606 different health care\nproviders, from four counties in Norway, completed the questionnaire. The survey was developed to describe\naspects of the communication pattern among oncology doctors, nurses, family physicians and complementary\ntherapists (acupuncturists, massage therapists and reflexologists/zone-therapists). Between-group differences were\nanalyzed using chi-square, ANOVA and Fisher�s exact tests. Significance level was defined as p < 0.05 without\nadjustment for multiple comparisons.\nResult: Conventional providers and complementary therapists had different patterns of communication with their\ncancer patients regarding complementary therapies. While complementary therapists advised their patients to apply\nboth complementary and conventional modalities, medical doctors were less supportive of their patients� use of\ncomplementary therapies. Of conventional providers, nurses expressed more positive attitudes toward\ncomplementary therapies. Opportunities to improve communication between conventional and complementary\nproviders were most strongly supported by complementary providers and nurses; medical doctors were less\nsupportive of such attempts. A number of doctors showed lack of respect for complementary therapists, but asked\nfor more research, guidelines for complementary modalities and training in conventional medicine for\ncomplementary therapists.\nConclusion: For better quality of care, greater communication about complementary therapy use is needed\nbetween cancer patients and their conventional and complementary providers. In addition, more communication\nbetween conventional and complementary providers is needed. Nurses may have a crucial role in facilitating\ncommunication, as they are positive toward complementary therapies and they have more direct communication\nwith patients about their treatment preferences.
Loading....