Evaluation of pediatricians' awareness of traditional and complementary medicine

Aim: Today, the use of Traditional and Complementary Medicine (T&CM) methods in adults and children is increasing day by day in many countries. This situation makes clinicians' level of knowledge about T&CM even more important. In our study, we aimed to evaluate the awareness of pediatricians about T&CM applications. Material and Methods: The survey was delivered electronically to 300 pediatricians, of whom 184 completed the survey completely. The survey consisted of a total of 15 questions, and the demographic characteristics of the participants, their level of knowledge about T&CM, their thoughts on T&CM applications in clinical practice, and the future of T&CM training were evaluated. Results: 47.7% of the surveyed pediatricians were male and 54.3% were female. While only 9.8% of the participants stated that they received training on T&CM, 71.7% stated that they planned to receive training. Only 20.7% of the participants reported their knowledge level about T&CM as moderate and above. While the participants reported phytotherapy (39.4%) as the T&CM method they had the most knowledge about, acupuncture (31.8%) and Cupping Therapy / Hijama Therapy (23.5%) followed phytotherapy. 49.2% of the participants who suggested T&CM in their clinical practice described the level of knowledge about T&CM as moderate and above (p<0.001). 74.6% of the participants who recommend T&CM in their clinical practice state that they recommend it to their patients to support the immune system. Discussion: Consequently, it is obvious that the level of knowledge about T&CM is not at the desired level for pediatricians and they have not received any training on T&CM at any stage of their education, except for individual training efforts. In practice, almost all pediatricians encounter at least one T&CM application or recommend it without realizing it or not. For this reason, we believe that the dissemination of T&CM training and integration into medical education will be appropriate for both clinicians' and patients' safety.