Profile of minority and under-served patients using acupuncture
Ellen Silver Highfield1, Lisa Spellman, Linda L Barnes
1Department of Family Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA. Ellen.highfield@bmc.org
Background:
Acupuncture use remains common in the United States, yet little is known of its utilization by minority and underserved populations. Herein we report first visit data capturing patient profiles, types of conditions presented, and self-reports of their experience and satisfaction with acupuncture accessed at a free care clinic with in a large urban safety net hospital.
Methods:
Sixty-one adult, English-speaking acupuncture patients were given a 20 min survey after their first visit to a free care acupuncture clinic.
Results:
Patients were from 12 different countries. Fifty-six percent of the participants were minorities. Sixty-five percent of respondents were female. Average age was 42.1. Eighty percent were acupuncture naïve. Patients' health complaints were similar to those of other surveyed mainstream patients with 57% reporting musculoskeletal conditions. Ninety-three percent would recommend a friend or family for acupuncture, 97% rating their overall experience with the acupuncture clinic as either very good or good.
Conclusions:
When made available to a diverse population of patients, acupuncture is utilized and perceived to be helpful. In this survey, patients sought treatment for musculoskeletal conditions and were satisfied with their first visit. Future research is warranted.