172757 Personal and Family Use of Western Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine in Physicians with Different Training Backgrounds: The Taiwan Experience

Monday, October 27, 2008

Nicole Huang, PhD , Department of Public Health School of Medicine, National Yang Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan
Yiing-Jenq Chou, MD, PhD , Department of Public Health School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan
Cheng-Hua Lee, MD, PhD , Institute of Hospital and Health Care Administration, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan
  
Objectives. We assessed the personal and family use of WM and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) services by medical professionals with different background: western medicine-trained doctors (WMDs), traditional medicine-trained doctors (CMDs), and those with dual licenses (WMD-CMDs) in Taiwan.

Methods. Taiwan's National Health Insurance claims files, medical professional registry, household registry, and death certificates were used. There were 31,122 WMDs, 4,006 CMDs, and 2,361 WMD-CMDs. The numbers of their relatives were 54,863, 7,658, and 3,869, respectively. Individuals with insurable monthly wage ≥ $40,000 New Taiwan (NT) were served as a comparison group. Probability of use, number of visits, and expenditure were analyzed using two-part models.

Results. As expected, after adjusted for other characteristics, CMDs and their relatives had the highest TCM use, followed by WMD-CMDs and their relatives, and then WMDs and their relatives had the lowest TMC use. Even those high-income general adults had a higher TCM use than WMDs and their relatives. In contrast to TCM use, the use of western medicine services showed a reverse pattern.

Conclusion. This study was the first attempt to compare personal and family uses of WM and TCM by doctors with different training backgrounds. Strong preferences for services offered by own doctrine was evidently observed. This issue may be particularly apparent in WMDs. For better integration and quality of care, strategies which help to resolve deep-rooted tension and distrust between two doctrines such as addressing concerns about safety and effectiveness of CAM therapies, and reforming socialization processes in medical education or continuing educations are extremely critical.

Learning Objectives:
1.Describe differences in utilizations of traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine by physicians with different training backgrounds. 2.Articulate possible challenges in the integration between traditional Chinese medicine and western biomedicine: limited understanding of other doctrine, and socialization differences in education or training processes.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I was involved in all aspects of this study including conceptualization, analyses, interpretations, and writing of the article.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: Use of Alternative and Complementary Health Practices among Specific Populations
See more of: Alternative and Complementary Health Practices