Un-conventional Medicine from the Aspect of the General Practitioners

Overview

The article deals with the problemof un-conventional medicine from the aspect of GPs. Interestin un-conventional medicine on the part of patients was documented in the whole western worldduring the eighties and nineties and can be conceived as a social phenomenon which is closelyassociated with technologization and rationalization of medicine, as well as with the changedmorbidity and pandemic of chronic diseases with a mass incidence. The paper presents resultsof original research implemented in a representative group ofGPsin the Czech Republic, focusedon mapping of attitudes to an views of GPs on un-conventional medicine. The answers indicatethat the problem of un-conventional medicine is encountered in the practice of the GP ina relatively great extent. The greatest interest on the part of doctors is in acupuncture andhomeopathy, frequently based on their own therapeutic experience with the given trend and/orsupported by postgraduate training. The attitudes and views were very little differentiated withregard to sociodemographic and sociogeographic characteristics.

Key words:
un-conventional medicine - acupuncture - homeopathy - traditional medicine -general practitioner - placebo effect - public health insurance.