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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 Jan 11.
Published in final edited form as: Arch Intern Med. 2009 Apr 13;169(7):670–677. doi: 10.1001/archinternmed.2009.49

Table 4.

Relative Importance of Research Evidence in Clinical Decisions Among 1561 Clinician Respondents, Shown by Professional Group

Professional Group, %
CAM Providers Conventional Health Care Professionals
Response Item Acupuncturists Naturopaths General Internists Rheumatologists P Value
Importance of decision factors
    Clinical experience “very Important” 90 92 74 80 <.001
    Published research “very important” 27 30 64 76 <.001
    Patient preferences “very important” 58 63 53 43 <.001
Research usefulness
    RCTs are “very useful” 17 24 58 74 <.001
Most important factor
    Clinical experience 79 81 50 50 graphic file with name nihms165972t5.jpg <.001
    Published research 3 5 37 43
    Patient preferences 15 14 12 6
Least important factor
    Clinical experience 2 3 16 16 graphic file with name nihms165972t6.jpg <.001
    Published research 70 66 31 20
    Patient preferences 27 31 53 64

Abbreviations: CAM, complementary and alternative medicine; RCTs, randomized controlled trials.