[Complementary and alternative medicine use in surgical patients]

Area of Science:

• Integrative Medicine
• Surgical Patient Care
• Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)

Background:

• Growing use of non-conventional therapies necessitates evaluation in perioperative settings.
• Understanding patient attitudes towards naturopathy is crucial for integrated care.
• Elective surgery patients represent a key demographic for CAM research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess patient attitudes towards naturopathic methods before elective surgery.
• To determine the prevalence of naturopathic therapy use in this population.
• To identify factors associated with the utilization of naturopathic treatments.

Main Methods:

• Anonymous questionnaire administered to patients awaiting elective surgery.
• Data collected at the First Department of Surgery, Semmelweis University.
• Study conducted from July 2014 to April 2016, involving 519 participants.

Main Results:

• 63.6% of participants expressed interest in non-conventional therapies.
• 26.8% reported using naturopathic methods, particularly females, university graduates, those aged 40-49, and patients with hormonal diseases.
• Most popular methods included Traditional Chinese Medicine (8.9%), movement/massage therapy (7.5%), and homeopathy (7.3%).

Conclusions:

• Surgical patients demonstrate considerable interest in naturopathic approaches.
• A significant proportion of patients utilize these methods, even during the perioperative phase.
• Findings highlight the importance of discussing CAM use with surgical patients.