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Our Funds at Work
Miriam Weinstein, MD, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON
The use of alternative medicine is increasing among patients with atopic dermatitis, despite the lack of evidence about the regulation, safety and efficacy of many complementary medical treatments. Rather than criticizing the use of alternative medicine by patients, physicians should attempt to understand why their patients might seek such care. There are no Canadian studies looking at the use of alternative or complementary medicine among atopic dermatitis (eczema) patients. Through a questionnaire delivered to parents of patients with atopic dermatitis (eczema), we will look at the use of alternative medicine in an ethnically diverse population of Canadian children with atopic dermatitis. Some hypotheses as to why patients may use alternative care include that they believe it is safer as it is “natural”, they receive more one-on-one time during visits and they are frustrated with unsatisfactory results from conventional care.
The insight gained on why patients use alternative approaches of medicine can only improve the conventional care we deliver.
(C2006)
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