Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of oncology health professionals on complementary medicines

Abstract

Context: About 50% of cancer patients use some kind of CAM, raising worries about possible drug interactions with standard cancer therapy. This 
research aimed to investigate oncology staff members' CAM knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors in order to better understand how they may 
contribute to the safe use of these therapies.
The purpose of this research was to evaluate the CAM knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors among oncology professionals in Australia.
MethodsThree national oncology professional organizations' members were surveyed through online questionnaire to assess their familiarity 
with, and comfort with using, complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Nine physicians, seventy nurses, and twenty pharmacists 
responded to the survey, for a total of 99 completed forms. Sixty-eight point four percent of those polled felt unprepared to answer patients' 
inquiries about CAMs because of a lack of expertise about the topic. Respondents, on the whole, agreed that CAMs play a supplementary function 
in oncology, however they voiced certain safety concerns. The respondents said that fewer than 40% of their patients would be open to discussing 
complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), with the absence of scientific evidence and guidelines for CAM usage being major hurdles to such 
talks. Our research reveals that a lack of awareness of CAMs among cancer health professionals may cause them to be less confident when 
advising patients and raises concerns about patient safety. This affects the way they talk about CAMs with patients and may explain why some 
people don't tell their doctors they use CAMs. Education on CAMs in oncology would help raise clinicians' confidence in addressing these 
treatments, leading to more patient disclosure of CAMs and safer treatment decision making for persons with cance