HEALTH SERVICE RESEARCH POSTER PRESENTATION ABSTRACTS
Please note: All posters will be displayed in
Salons 10-12.
FRIDAY, 10:15-11:00 AM
Roemheld-Hamm B, Hamilton J, Young D, Jalba M, DiCicco-Bloom
B, Crabtree B.
Primary care delivery: why do family physicians practice
integrative medicine?
UMDNJ- Robert Wood Johnson Medical School hammbr@umdnj.edu
CONTEXT: Family Medicine practices have started
to integrate complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) concepts and
modalities into their practice. Integrative family practices have individual
physicians practice CAM modalities themselves, and often employ non-physician
CAM practitioners as well. However, little is known about the rationale
for development and organization of these integrative practices within
Family Medicine.
PURPOSE: To explore the rationale of family
physicians, other providers and practice members to practice integrative
medicine. Design and Setting: Multimethod comparative case study of
five integrative family medicine offices located in the Northeast US.
Data used include depth interviews with physicians, staff and other
healthcare providers, key informant interviews, field notes
RESULTS: The following themes were identified:
(1) personal motives (positive personal experiences with integrative
medicine, ongoing self care experiences, a passion for healing), (2)
quality of patient care (positive effect on practice style, better patient
centeredness, meeting patients' preferences), (3) systems issues (difficulties
with the current insurance and political climate in primary care, increased
financial returns, increased staff and provider satisfaction with integrative
approach), and (4) operationalizing of new care paradigms (rediscovery
of the art of healing, holistic paradigm, collaborative care paradigm,
others).
CONCLUSIONS: Family physicians' and their collaborators'
motives for practicing integrative medicine are usually multifactorial
and include philosophical principles, personal care experiences, quality
of care and health care system issues. Offices are organized around
care paradigms rarely found in other FP practices; this integration
can have profound effects on the relationships between different members
of a practice team and their patients. Further research is needed to
explore these motives, their relative importance, their interrelatedness,
and details about the organizational structures that emerge in these
practices. It is hoped that the comparison of integrative practices
with other Family Medicine practices in the region will inform the specialty
of Family Medicine at large.
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