To better understand which patients opted to undergo those therapies and why, researchers conducted a series of interviews with physicians, nurses and hospital administrators about their attitudes toward and experiences with integrative medicine.
Here are five findings from the study, published in BMJ Open:
- The service lines most likely to refer patients for integrative medicine services were orthopaedic and neuroscience/spine.
- The most integrative medicine referrals were for patients whose length of stay was three days or less, with a disproportionate number of total integrative medicine referrals made for patients with stays longer than 10 days.
- Physicians and nurses were more likely to refer integrative medicine for patients with strong symptoms, such as pain or anxiety, and those who did not respond to conventional therapy.
- Nurses were the primary initiators of integrative medicine referrals.
- The delay time from referral to care delivery, which can run up to two days, discouraged some clinicians from referring patients for integrative medicine therapies.
“[Integrative medicine] referral patterns are influenced by patient characteristics, operational features and provider perspectives,” the authors concluded. “Overcoming cultural and knowledge differences between conventional and integrative medicine providers is likely to be a continuing challenge to providing integrative medicine in inpatient settings.”
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