Mind the gap! Lay and medical perceptions of risks associated with the use of alternative treatment and conventional medicine.

CONCLUSION: For the safety of CAM users, such divergent risk perceptions may have far-reaching consequences. CAM users should be taken seriously with their self-perception as decision-makers considering their approaches to experiences, knowledge, and science. An awareness of differing lay and medical risk perceptions associated with CAM and conventional medicine in research, doctor-patient communication, and education of patients and doctors is thus important to optimize patient safety in complex health care systems. PMID: 25824401 [PubMed - in process]
Source: Forschende Komplementarmedizin - Category: Complementary Medicine Tags: Forsch Komplementmed Source Type: research