Determinants of patients preferring Complementary and Alternative medicine attending public hospitals in Lahore, Pakistan.

OBJECTIVE: To find the frequency and determinants of patients preferring complementary and alternative medicine over registered medical doctors.. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted at Services Hospital, Mayo Hospital and Jinnah Hospital in Lahore, Pakistan, from June 8 to August 20, 2017.A pre-tested self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. SPSS 20 was used for data analysis. . RESULTS: Of the 385 subjects, 200(51.9%) had visited at least one complementary and alternative medicine healer in their life. Besides, 166(83%) subjects confirmed positive outcome of such therapies. When asked about reasons behind their choice,227(59%)subjects mentioned cost effectiveness, 99(25.7%) better understanding, 131(34%) guidance about disease by such healers, 198(51.4%) harmless therapies, 198(51.4%) natural ingredients of medicines, 154(40%) accessibility, 161(41.8%) psychological satisfaction, 221(57.4%) said fewer appointments, 222(57.7%) said diagnosis without laboratory tests, 131(34%)family influence, 52(13.5%) had surgical fears, 101(26.2%) said faith in spiritual exercises, 63(16.4%) were addicted to complementary and alternative medicine products, 122(31.7%) said better communication) while183(47.5%) said sparing more time for consultation. CONCLUSIONS: There were a variety of beliefs and reasons behind patients preferring complementary and alternative medicine providers over medical doctors.

Informing the homeopathic practice for Turkish pharmacists: reviewing the example of Portuguese community pharmacies.

INTRODUCTION: Alternative and complementary therapy systems, such as homeopathy, have long been used around the world. Since 1995 homeopathy has been officially recognized in Europe as a system of medicine or a medical specialty. Portuguese community pharmacists have long-standing experience with homeopathic products. By contrast, healthcare professionals in Turkey are less experienced with homeopathic practice although there is a new regulatory setting in place. There are a limited number of studies addressing pharmacists' role within the homeopathic system. AIM: To investigate the attitudes (knowledge, feelings and behaviour) of experienced Portuguese pharmacy practitioners who deal with homeopathy, and thus to inform Turkish pharmacy practice and policy on homeopathy-related success factors. METHODS: A qualitative cross-sectional design was followed, using semi-structured and face-to-face individual interviews with purposively selected Portuguese pharmacists experienced with homeopathic medicines. Audio-recordings were transcribed verbatim and the transcriptions imported into QSR NVivo v10 software for qualitative coding and analysis. Using a thematic content approach, the extracted codes were grouped and indexed by recurrent themes through a reflective procedure and constant comparison. RESULTS & DISCUSSION: Six general themes emerged, the most relevant being participants' feelings of gratitude for the ability to work in homeopathy; other themes were a helpful regulatory body, clear practice boundaries, scientific support and product quality assurance. Specialized homeopathic education was considered the most important factor for success. This was related to patients' positive perceptions and acceptance, suggesting an increase in public awareness through the pharmacy network. CONCLUSIONS: Portuguese pharmacists' attitudes towards their homeopathic practices highlighted the key elements for success in a field that is usually distant from traditional pharmaceutical education and practice. The present findings provide guidance for Turkish pharmacists willing to expand their professional scope and to embrace complementary medicines.

Supportive but "worried": perceptions of naturopaths, homeopaths and Chinese medicine practitioners through a regulatory transition in Ontario, Canada.

BACKGROUND: In line with recent World Health Organization recommendations, many jurisdictions are taking steps to regulate practitioners of traditional, complementary and alternative medicine (TCAM). Previous studies have examined TCAM practitioners' generally-supportive views about professional regulation; however, little research has been conducted on TCAM practitioners' experiences and perspectives amidst an active regulatory process. In 2006 and 2007, the province of Ontario, Canada announced it would grant self-regulatory status to three TCAM practitioner groups--homeopaths, naturopaths and Chinese medicine practitioners/acupuncturists. METHODS: In 2011 and 2012, part-way through each group's regulatory process, we surveyed all practitioners from these three groups (n=1047) that could be identified from public registries and professional associations. The data presented here are derived from the sub-sample of homeopaths (n=234), naturopaths (n=273) and Chinese medicine practitioners/acupuncturists (n=181) who provided answers to an open-ended question about their opinions of the regulatory process at the end of the survey. An inductive, thematic analysis of qualitative survey responses was conducted. RESULTS: Survey responses affirmed a pro-regulatory stance across all groups, but revealed considerable 'worry' amongst practitioners as to how the regulations might be implemented. Four primary 'worry-related' themes emerged: a) regulation's potential administrative and financial burden on practitioners; b) scope-related concerns; c) implementation of fair registration standards; and d) whether regulation might erode the groups' distinctive worldviews. Some occupationally-specific concerns appeared related to each group's particular stage of professionalization. Other 'worries' may be related to the relative marginality of TCAM practitioner groups within biomedically-dominant national health care systems, and the possibility that inter-professional hierarchies may be emerging between particular TCAM groups. Specific concerns around overlapping practice scopes between TCAM and other professions raised questions about the implementation of non-monopolistic regulatory models such as Ontario's. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, this study will help inform regulators and TCAM practitioner groups to navigate the unique challenge of regulating health care providers long excluded from national health care systems, who frequently work from within paradigms distinct from mainstream biomedicine.

Self-experimentations with psychedelics among mental health professionals: LSD in the former Czechoslovakia.

This article enquires into auto-experiments with psychedelics. It is focused on the experiences and current attitudes of mental health professionals who experimented with LSD in the era of legal research of this substance in the former Czechoslovakia. The objective of the follow-up study presented was to assess respondents' long-term views on their LSD experience(s). A secondary objective was to capture the attitude of the respondents toward the use of psychedelics within the mental health field. A total of 22 individuals participated in structured interviews. None of the respondents reported any long-term negative effect and all of them except two recorded enrichment in the sphere of self-awareness and/or understanding to those with mental disorder(s). Although there were controversies with regard to the ability of preventing possible negative consequences, respondents were supportive towards self-experiments with LSD in mental health sciences. This article is the first systematic examination of the self-experimentation with psychedelics that took place east of the Iron Curtain.

Interprofessional education: merging nursing, midwifery and CAM.

AIM: To ascertain the value of bringing together undergraduate students from nursing, midwifery, and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to determine what they could learn from each other. BACKGROUND: Interprofessional education (IPE) is a growing field promoting interaction between professional groups, collaborative working and quality of health. In conventional health, IPE has a role to play in undergraduate education. No studies have been undertaken to investigate the integration of CAM students and conventional undergraduate healthcare students. METHOD: In a mixed-method study, in 2010, a sample of third-year students enrolled on adult nursing, midwifery, homeopathy and complementary therapies degree courses took part in two workshops and a focus-group discussion. FINDINGS: Six themes were identified from qualitative data analysis: interaction; breaking down prejudices; knowledge of self; knowledge of others; common aims; and organisational limitations. CONCLUSION: The common aim of patient-centred care allowed students to recognise the benefits of a more integrated health system.

Complementary and alternative medicine in oncology: knowledge, attitude and practice among Tunisian healthcare workers.

PURPOSE: Over the past years, there has been a considerable increase in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use among cancer patients. However, guidance from health care workers (HCWs) is not always provided. We aimed to determine the knowledge, attitude and practice of Tunisian HCWs regarding the use of CAM in cancer patients. METHODS: We conducted a multicenter cross-sectional study over 5 months from February to June 2022 among HCWs caring for cancer patients in the Tunisian center region. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire developed by our investigators. RESULTS: The level of knowledge about CAM was declared limited by 78.4% of our population. The best known CAM therapies were herbal medicine and homeopathy while chiropractic and hypnosis where the least. HCWs who had sought information on CAM represented 54.3% of our sample and the main source of information was the Internet (37.1%). A positive attitude towards the use of CAM was found in 56% of HCWs. The integration of CAM into supportive care in oncology was approved by 78% of HCWs. Concerning training on CAM, 78% declared its necessity for HCWs and 73.3% expressed a desire to have it. A personal use of CAM was found in 53% of HCWs while 38.8% had previously used CAM in the treatment of their cancer patients. CONCLUSION: The majority of HCWs had a positive attitude towards the use of CAM in oncology despite their poor knowledge about it. Our study emphasizes the need to train HCWs dealing with cancer patients on CAM.

Midwifery homeopathy in Ghana.

This is a personal account of my visit to Ghana, through a UK run charity which promotes and teaches homeopathy and community health education. As a midwife volunteer, my primary aim was to become familiar with local customs, advising on childbirth and pregnancy care and teaching local Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) some basic homeopathy for potential use in labour. I reflect on my community experience and contrast it with typical institutional care within Ghana and my own independent midwifery practice in the UK. I have outlined the indications for some commonly used homeopathic remedies.

Consultation with health care professionals and influenza immunization among women in contact with young children.

OBJECTIVE: Primary health providers serve an important role in providing and promoting annual influenza immunization to high-risk groups and their close contacts. The purpose of this analysis was to determine whether consultation with a medical professional increases the likelihood of receiving a flu shot among women who have given birth in the past five years and to determine whether this association differs by type of medical professional. METHODS: Data were obtained from the Canadian Community Health Survey (2005), Cycle 3.1. Logistic regression was used to examine the association between receiving a flu shot in the past 12 months and consulting with family doctors, specialists, nurses, chiropractors, or homeopaths/naturopaths. RESULTS: Among the 6,925 women included in our sample, 1,847 (28.4%) reported receiving a flu shot in the past 12 months. After adjustment for socio-demographic characteristics and province of residence, women who received flu shots in the past 12 months were significantly more likely to consult with a family doctor (AOR 1.56, 95% CI 1.34-1.83) and significantly less likely to consult with a chiropractor (AOR 0.76, 95% CI 0.64-0.90) or a homeopath/naturopath (AOR 0.72, 95% CI 0.54-0.97) over the same time period. CONCLUSION: Consultation with family doctors was found to have the strongest association with annual flu shots among women in contact with young children, whereas consultation with alternative care providers was found to have an independent inverse association. Given the influenza-associated health risks for young children, medical professionals should promote immunization at the time of consultation for household contacts of young children, including pregnant women.

Diagnoses and visit length in complementary and mainstream medicine.

BACKGROUND: The demand for complementary medicine (CM) is growing worldwide and so is the supply. So far, there is not much insight in the activities in Dutch CM practices nor in how these activities differ from mainstream general practice. Comparisons on diagnoses and visit length can offer an impression of how Dutch CM practices operate. METHODS: Three groups of regularly trained physicians specialized in CM participated in this study: 16 homeopathic physicians, 13 physician acupuncturists and 11 naturopathy physicians. Every CM physician was asked to include a maximum of 75 new patients within a period of six months. For each patient an inclusion registration form had to be completed and the activities during a maximum of five repeat visits were subsequently registered. Registrations included patient characteristics, diagnoses and visit length. These data could be compared with similar data from general practitioners (GPs) participating in the second Dutch national study in general practice (DNSGP-2). Differences between CM practices and between CM and mainstream GP data were tested using multilevel regression analysis. RESULTS: The CM physicians registered activities in a total of 5919 visits in 1839 patients. In all types of CM practices general problems (as coded in the ICPC) were diagnosed more often than in mainstream general practice, especially fatigue, allergic reactions and infections. Psychological problems and problems with the nervous system were also diagnosed more frequently. In addition, each type of CM physician encountered specific health problems: in acupuncture problems with the musculoskeletal system prevailed, in homeopathy skin problems and in naturopathy gastrointestinal problems. Comparisons in visit length revealed that CM physicians spent at least twice as much time with patients compared to mainstream GPs. CONCLUSIONS: CM physicians differed from mainstream GPs in diagnoses, partly related to general and partly to specific diagnoses. Between CM practices differences were found on specific domains of complaints. Visit length was much longer in CM practices compared to mainstream GP visits, and such ample time may be one of the attractive features of CM for patients.

Vaccination discourses among chiropractors, naturopaths and homeopaths: A qualitative content analysis of academic literature and Canadian organizational webpages.

Vaccine hesitancy-the reluctance to receive recommended vaccination because of concerns and doubts about vaccines-is recognized as a significant threat to the success of vaccination programs and has been associated with recent major outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. Moreover, the association between complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use and vaccine hesitancy and/or refusal has been frequently reported in the literature. To date, significant gaps persist in our understanding of contemporary Canadian CAM providers' beliefs regarding vaccination and how socio-professional influences may shape their vaccine-related attitudes and behaviours. To address the latter gap, the current study aims to explore the content of professional guidelines, recommendations and other discourses among CAM providers as they concern vaccination by analyzing both academic, peer-reviewed literature and Canadian organizational webpages prepared by and/or for practicing chiropractors, naturopaths and homeopaths. In the academic literature, we identified a number of complex and diverging views on vaccination that spanned topics of effectiveness; safety; theoretical, empirical, and ethical soundness; political justifiability; and compatibility with CAM philosophy and professional boundaries. However, in its current state the CAM literature cannot be described in broad strokes as being either pro- or anti-vaccination without considering finer areas of disagreement. Compared to the academic literature, which focuses more on the conceptual and evidentiary basis of vaccination, a greater proportion of vaccine-related content on Canadian CAM organizations' webpages seems to be dedicated to offering specific directives and prescriptions to providers. Guidelines and standards of practice address a number of issues, including vaccine administration, counsel, education and marketing. As CAM organizations further evolve in Canada and elsewhere as part of a broader "professionalization" initiative, greater attention will need to be directed at their role in shaping providers' beliefs and practices that both support and undermine vaccine promotion efforts.

Uma permanência nada fortuita [Editorial] / A not fortuitous stay [Editorial]

Chegamos a mais edição da Revista de Homeopatia da APH, Vol 85 nº 1. Notem que a homeopatia é inevitável. Não só porque oferece uma outra abordagem de tratamento, não apenas porque propõe um acompanhamento acessível e eficaz para quadros agudos e crônicos, mas porque permite o resgate de uma atuação médica que envolve o Cuidado. Evidentemente a homeopatia sofre com as dificuldades para fazer as pesquisas necessárias e apresentar todo seu potencial clínico, e além dos motivos auto evidentes há aqueles que ultrapassam o escopo de uma análise imediata, como, por exemplo, sua notável viabilidade econômica para a saúde pública e sua ampla aceitação social. Evidentemente existem críticas e objeções justas e que merecem ser seriamente examinadas. Destarte, na maior parte das vezes, as bases da medicina do sujeito são superficialmente contestadas, menos por suas supostas fragilidades, do que pelo despreparo intelectual de interlocutores que reduzem toda a discussão epistemológica ao dogma de uma postura anacrônica e cientificista. E, senhores, muitas destas críticas propagadas nas mídias leigas advém de personalidades sem o preparo clínico adequado, vale dizer, sem noção de medicina, especialmente sem a vivência médica-terapêutica para avaliá-la corretamente.

We have reached another edition of the APH Homeopathy Magazine, Vol. 85, No. 1. Note that homeopathy is inevitable. Not only because it offers another treatment approach, not only because it proposes accessible and effective monitoring for acute and chronic conditions, but because it allows the recovery of a medical practice that involves Care. Clearly, homeopathy suffers from difficulties in conducting the necessary research and presenting its full clinical potential, and in addition to the self-evident reasons, there are those that go beyond the scope of an immediate analysis, such as, for example, its notable economic viability for public health and its broad social acceptance. Clearly, there are fair criticisms and objections that deserve to be seriously examined. Thus, most of the time, the bases of subject medicine are superficially challenged, less because of its supposed weaknesses, than because of the intellectual unpreparedness of interlocutors who reduce the entire epistemological discussion to the dogma of an anachronistic and scientific stance. And, gentlemen, many of these criticisms propagated in the lay media come from people without adequate clinical training, that is, without any notion of medicine, especially without the medical-therapeutic experience to correctly evaluate it.

Exploring consumer and pharmacist views on the professional role of the pharmacist with respect to natural health products: a study of focus groups.

BACKGROUND: Natural health products (NHPs) such as herbs, vitamins and homeopathic medicines, are currently available for sale in most Canadian pharmacies. However, most pharmacists report that they have limited knowledge about these products which have been regulated in Canada as a specific sub-category of drugs. In this paper, consumers' and practicing pharmacists' perceptions of pharmacists' professional responsibilities with respect to NHPs are examined. METHODS: A total of 16 focus groups were conducted with consumers (n = 50) and pharmacists (n = 47) from four different cities across Canada (Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto, and Halifax). RESULTS: In this paper, we illustrate the ways in which pharmacists' professional responsibilities are impacted by changing consumer needs. Many consumers in the study utilized a wide range of information resources that may or may not have included pharmacists. Nevertheless, the majority of consumers and pharmacists agreed that pharmacists should be knowledgeable about NHPs and felt that pharmacists should be able to manage drug-NHPs interactions as well as identify and evaluate the variety of information available to help consumers make informed decisions. CONCLUSION: This paper demonstrates that consumers' expectations and behaviour significantly impact pharmacists' perceptions of their professional responsibilities with respect to NHPs.

Medicine, rhetoric and undermining: managing credibility in homeopathic practice.

This article examines homeopathic practitioners 'real life' accounts, and illustrates the ways in which they negotiate their homeopathic practices as contingently formulated ongoing social events in research interview settings. Interview transcripts were analysed in a qualitative framework using discourse analysis. The findings show that practitioners construct homeopathy and defend their own individual practices either by 'alignment-with-medicine' or by 'boosting-the-credibility-of-homeopathy'. Homeopathy is also negotiated and sustained as an 'alternative' to notions of conventional medicine, which is the accepted yardstick for practice or as a practice that is portrayed as problematic. Overall, managing personal credibility is accomplished through specific ways of accounting that tend to marginalise homeopathy. Developing and establishing homeopathic practice further as a discipline in its own right is offered as a 'nucleus' to reduce continuing marginalisation.

Towards standard setting for patient-reported outcomes in the NHS homeopathic hospitals.

INTRODUCTION: We report findings from a pilot data collection study within a programme of quality assurance, improvement and development across all five homeopathic hospitals in the UK National Health Service (NHS). AIMS: (1) To pilot the collection of clinical data in the homeopathic hospital outpatient setting, recording patient-reported outcome since first appointment; (2) to sample the range of medical complaints that secondary-care doctors treat using homeopathy, and thus identify the nature and complexity of complaints most frequently treated nationally; (3) to present a cross section of outcome scores by appointment number, including that for the most frequently treated medical complaints; (4) to explore approaches to standard setting for homeopathic practice outcome in patients treated at the homeopathic hospitals. METHODS: A total of 51 medical practitioners took part in data collection over a 4-week period. Consecutive patient appointments were recorded under the headings: (1) date of first appointment in the current series; (2) appointment number; (3) age of patient; (4) sex of patient; (5) main medical complaint being treated; (6) whether other main medical complaint(s); (7) patient-reported change in health, using Outcome Related to Impact on Daily Living (ORIDL) and its derivative, the ORIDL Profile Score (ORIDL-PS; range, -4 to +4, where a score or=+2 indicates an effect on the quality of a patient's daily life); (8) receipt of other complementary medicine for their main medical complaint. RESULTS: The distribution of patient age was bimodal: main peak, 49 years; secondary peak, 6 years. Male:female ratio was 1:3.5. Data were recorded on a total of 1797 individual patients: 195 first appointments, 1602 follow-ups (FUs). Size of clinical service and proportion of patients who attended more than six visits varied between hospitals. A total of 235 different medical complaints were reported. The 30 most commonly treated complaints were (in decreasing order of frequency): eczema; chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS); menopausal disorder; osteoarthritis; depression; breast cancer; rheumatoid arthritis; asthma; anxiety; irritable bowel syndrome; multiple sclerosis; psoriasis; allergy (unspecified); fibromyalgia; migraine; premenstrual syndrome; chronic rhinitis; headache; vitiligo; seasonal allergic rhinitis; chronic intractable pain; insomnia; ulcerative colitis; acne; psoriatic arthropathy; urticaria; ovarian cancer; attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); epilepsy; sinusitis. The proportion of patients with important co-morbidity was higher in those seen after visit 6 (56.9%) compared with those seen up to and including that point (40.7%; P<0.001). The proportion of FU patients reporting ORIDL-PS>or=+2 (improvement affecting daily living) increased overall with appointment number: 34.5% of patients at visit 2 and 59.3% of patients at visit 6, for example. Amongst the four most frequently treated complaints, the proportion of patients that reported ORIDL-PS>or=+2 at visit numbers greater than 6 varied between 59.3% (CFS) and 73.3% (menopausal disorder). CONCLUSIONS: We have successfully piloted a process of national clinical data collection using patient-reported outcome in homeopathic hospital outpatients, identifying a wide range and complexity of medical complaints treated in that setting. After a series of homeopathy appointments, a high proportion of patients, often representing "effectiveness gaps" for conventional medical treatment, reported improvement in health affecting their daily living. These pilot findings are informing our developing programme of standard setting for homeopathic care in the hospital outpatient context.

Homeopatia e racionalidade médica / Homeopathy and medical rationality

A prática racional e integral da homeopatia exige que o profissional médico explique a doença do paciente e ao mesmo tempo o compreenda, sendo portanto necessária a individualização do doente com sua(s) doença(s). Por outro lado, a terapêutica homeopática também tem sido historicamente empregada na prática médica, em diferentes situações e com resolutividade, em casos com parcial similitude e uso de um ou mais medicamentos homeopáticos. A homeopatia tem evoluído ao longo do tempo, com realização de pesquisas clínicas que se valem de métodos clínicos validados à avaliação da efetividade e eficácia da homeopatia e que, em certa medida, levam em consideração as peculiaridades do método terapêutico homeopático, com sua exigência de abordagem individualizada do paciente. Entre a terapêutica homeopática e a alopática há muitas compatibilidades e, a distingui-las, a aplicação de dois princípios de base: O princípio dos semelhantes e o dos contrários. A avaliação clínica da homeopatia que considera os seres humanos semelhantes entre si pode seguir razoavelmente o modelo adotado nos estudos clínicos clássicos, enquanto na perspectiva da unicidade do ser humano são requeridos novos modelos de pesquisa que considerem a competência do médico, a variabilidade humana e a confiabilidade das fontes informativas da matéria médica homeopática.

The rational and integral practice of homeopathy requires that the medical professional explain the patient's disease and at the same time understand it, therefore, it is necessary to individualize the patient with his/her disease(s). On the other hand, homeopathic therapy has also been historically used in medical practice, in different situations and with resolution, in cases with partial similarity and use of one or more homeopathic medicines. Homeopathy has evolved over time, with clinical research carried out using validated clinical methods to assess the effectiveness and efficacy of homeopathy and which, to a certain extent, take into account the peculiarities of the homeopathic therapeutic method, with its requirement of individualized patient approach. There are many compatibilities between homeopathic and allopathic therapy and, to distinguish them, the application of two basic principles: the principle of similars and the principle of opposites. The clinical evaluation of homeopathy that considers human beings similar to each other can reasonably follow the model adopted in classic clinical studies, while in the perspective of the uniqueness of the human being, new research models are required that consider the competence of the physician, human variability and the reliability of homeopathic materia medica information sources.

Em busca de consensos em homeopatia: perspectivas em 2023 / In search of consensus in homeopathy: perspectives in 2023

Consenso também pode ser entendido como anuência, aprovação, licença, concessão e acordo. A comunidade de praticantes da clínica da similitude sempre apresentou uma generosa variedade metodológica em seus procedimentos. Muitas das discussões concentraram-se em aspectos considerados filosóficos encontrados nos textos canônicos da homeopatia, enquanto outras enfocaram os aspectos terapêuticos dos procedimentos clínicos. Diante deste quadro entendemos que se tornou necessário construir um processo dialógico entre os médicos. O desejo é encontrar bases corroborativas que nos permita estabelecer limites e alcances para definir o estado da arte. Nesta procura por consensos mínimos a partir da coleta de informações obtidas através de um formulário, adotou-se a escala de Likert com quatro alternativas para resposta às afirmações contidas em cada questão. Os resultados, junto com dados demográficos da comunidade homeopática brasileira encontram-se representados neste artigo. Esperamos aumentar a representatividade destes acordos durante uma nova consulta nas atividades que serão realizadas na Cidade de São Paulo durante o 36º Congresso Brasileiro de Homeopatia.

Consensus can also be understood as consent, approval, license, concession, and agreement. The similitude clinic's community of practitioners has always displayed generous methodological variety in its procedures. Many of the discussions focused on aspects considered philosophical found in canonical homeopathy texts, while others focused on the therapeutic aspects of clinical procedures. Faced with this situation, we understand that it has become necessary to build a dialogic process between physicians. The desire is to find corroborative bases that allow us to establish limits and scope to define the state of the art. In this search for minimum consensus from the collection of information obtained through a form, the Likert scale was adopted with four alternatives to answer the statements contained in each question. The results, along with demographic data of the Brazilian homeopathic community are represented in this article. We hope to increase the representativeness of these agreements during a new consultation in the activities that will be carried out in São Paulo, during the 36th Brazilian Congress of Homeopathy.

A aplicabilidade das pics na assistencia de enfermagem em pacientes com doença crônica: revisão integrativa / The applicability of pics in nursing care for patients with chronic disease: integrative review / La aplicabilidad de la pics en los cuidados de enfermería a pacientes con enfermedades crónicas: revisión integradora

A implementação das PICs no Brasil é uma realidade, dessa forma, compreende-se que o enfermeiro é o profissional que em tese deve possuir habilidades para aplicar as técnicas em pacientes. Com base nisso, o objetivo do trabalho foi descrever a atuação da enfermagem através de Planos de ações por intermédio das PICs em individuos com diminuição da qualidade de vida em razão do desenvolvimento de doenças crônicas degenerativas. Dessa forma, o presente artigo trata-se de uma revisão integrativa de literatura. Os resultados obtidos mostram que a aplicabilidade das PICs, está consolidada, sendo uma prática bastante utilizada na intervenção terapêutica de indivíduos portadores de doenças crônicas degenerativas, na qual as mais utilizadas são: plantas medicinais, reiki, homeopatia, acupuntura e auricuoterapia, entretanto, em relação a assistência de enfermagem, foi observado impasses em relação a capacitação profissional. Logo, concluímos que com base nas produções cientificas existentes a respeito das PICs, a prática infere em diversos benefícios ao indivíduo, estas que se convergem a promoção de maior qualidade de vida ao paciente com doenças crônicas, porém, a falta de capacitação profissional revela um impasse ainda persistente.

The implementation of PICs in Brazil is a reality, therefore, it is understood that the nurse is the professional who, in theory, must have the skills to apply the techniques to patients. Based on this, the objective of the study was to describe the role of nursing through Action Plans through PICs in individuals with reduced quality of life due to the development of chronic degenerative diseases. Thus, this article is an integrative literature review. The results obtained show that the applicability of PICs is consolidated, being a practice widely used in the therapeutic intervention of individuals with chronic degenerative diseases, in which the most used are: medicinal plants, reiki, homeopathy, acupuncture and auricutherapy, however, in regarding nursing care, impasses regarding professional training were observed. Therefore, we conclude that based on the existing scientific productions regarding PICs, the practice infers in several benefits to the individual, these that converge to the promotion of a better quality of life for the patient with chronic diseases, however, the lack of professional training reveals a stalemate still persistent.

La implementación de los PICs en Brasil es una realidad, por lo tanto, se entiende que la enfermera es el profesional que, en teoría, debe tener las habilidades para aplicar las técnicas a los pacientes. Con base en esto, el objetivo del estudio fue describir el papel de la enfermería a través de Planes de Acción por medio de PICs en individuos con calidad de vida reducida debido al desarrollo de enfermedades crónico degenerativas. Así, este artículo es una revisión bibliográfica integradora. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que la aplicabilidad de los PICs está consolidada, siendo una práctica ampliamente utilizada en la intervención terapéutica de individuos con enfermedades crónicas degenerativas, en la que las más utilizadas son: plantas medicinales, reiki, homeopatía, acupuntura y auricuterapia, sin embargo, en lo que respecta a los cuidados de enfermería, se observaron impasses en cuanto a la formación profesional. Por lo tanto, concluimos que con base en las producciones científicas existentes en relación a las PICs, la práctica infiere en varios beneficios al individuo, estos que convergen a la promoción de una mejor calidad de vida para el paciente con enfermedades crónicas, sin embargo, la falta de formación profesional revela un impasse aún persistente.