Discipline of General Practice, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
BMC Complement Altern Med. 2011 Sep 20;11:77. doi: 10.1186/1472-6882-11-77.
Australian General Practitioners (GPs) are in the forefront of primary health care and in an excellent position to communicate with their patients and educate them about Complementary Medicines (CMs) use. However previous studies have demonstrated that GPs lack the knowledge required about CMs to effectively communicate with patients about their CMs use and they perceive a need for information resources on CMs to use in their clinical practice. This study aimed to develop, implement, and evaluate a CMs information resource in Queensland (Qld) general practice.
The results of the needs assessment survey of Qld general practitioners (GPs) informed the development of a CMs information resource which was then put through an implementation and evaluation cycle in Qld general practice. The CMs information resource was a set of evidence-based herbal medicine fact sheets. This resource was utilised by 100 Qld GPs in their clinical practice for four weeks and was then evaluated. The evaluation assessed GPs' (1) utilisation of the resource (2) perceived quality, usefulness and satisfaction with the resource and (3) perceived impact of the resource on their knowledge, attitudes, and practice of CMs.
Ninety two out of the 100 GPs completed the four week evaluation of the fact sheets and returned the post-intervention survey. The herbal medicine fact sheets produced by this study were well accepted and utilised by Qld GPs. The majority of GPs perceived that the fact sheets were a useful resource for their clinical practice. The fact sheets improved GPs' attitudes towards CMs, increased their knowledge of those herbal medicines and improved their communication with their patients about those specific herbs. Eighty-six percent of GPs agreed that if they had adequate resources on CMs, like the herbal medicine fact sheets, then they would communicate more to their patients about their use of CMs.
Further educational interventions on CMs need to be provided to GPs to increase their knowledge of CMs and to improve their communication with patients about their CMs use.
澳大利亚全科医生（GP）处于初级卫生保健的前沿，能够与患者进行良好的沟通并对其进行补充药物（CM）使用方面的教育。然而，先前的研究表明，GP 缺乏有效与患者就其 CM 使用进行沟通所需的 CM 知识，他们认为需要 CM 信息资源来在临床实践中使用。本研究旨在昆士兰州（Qld）全科实践中开发、实施和评估 CM 信息资源。
对 Qld 全科医生（GP）的需求评估调查结果进行了分析，为开发 CM 信息资源提供了依据，然后在 Qld 全科实践中对该资源进行了实施和评估循环。CM 信息资源是一组基于证据的草药事实表。该资源在 Qld 的 100 名 GP 中用于临床实践四周，然后进行评估。评估包括：（1）GP 对资源的使用情况；（2）对资源的质量、有用性和满意度的感知；（3）资源对他们对 CM 的知识、态度和实践的影响的感知。
在 100 名 GP 中有 92 名完成了对事实表的四周评估并返回了干预后调查。本研究产生的草药事实表受到 Qld GP 的广泛认可和使用。大多数 GP 认为事实表是其临床实践的有用资源。事实表改善了 GP 对 CM 的态度，增加了他们对这些草药的了解，并改善了他们与患者就这些特定草药的沟通。86%的 GP 同意，如果他们有足够的 CM 资源，如草药事实表，那么他们会更经常与患者沟通其 CM 使用情况。
需要向 GP 提供关于 CM 的进一步教育干预措施，以提高他们对 CM 的认识并改善他们与患者就 CM 使用情况进行的沟通。
