Table 3.
Information source used | Knowledge sought from the information source | Application of knowledge from the information source | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
How a treatment works | How a treatment might benefit my patient | The safety of a treatment for my patient | Understanding of my patient’s health condition | Understanding about treatments of my patient has been prescribed by another health professional | To share with my patient | To share with other health professionals | To inform my own clinical decisions for an individual patient | To share with the general community | To develop clinical practice guidelines or policies for a group of patients | To produce useful research or scientific knowledge | |
Information published in scientific journals by researchers (n = 354) | 279 (78.8) | 311 (87.9) | 296 (83.6) | 242 (68.4) | 234 (66.1) | 283 (80.2) | 187 (53.0) | 322 (91.2) | 136 (38.5) | 117 (33.1) | 106 (30.0) |
Information gathered from conferences or other professional events (n = 305) | 250 (82.0) | 282 (92.5) | 236 (77.4) | 229 (75.1) | 184 (60.3) | 216 (71.0) | 151 (49.7) | 279 (91.8) | 108 (35.5) | 111 (36.5) | 49 (16.1) |
Information published in modern naturopathic clinical textbooks (published in the last 10 years) (n = 297) | 226 (76.1) | 260 (87.5) | 229 (77.1) | 204 (68.7) | 135 (45.5) | 213 (71.5) | 117 (39.3) | 262 (87.9) | 96 (32.2) | 93 (31.2) | 54 (18.1) |
Information from laboratory tests, pathology, or radiology tests (n = 282) | 65 (23.0) | 133 (47.2) | 123 (43.6) | 261 (92.6) | 106 (37.6) | 228 (81.1) | 85 (30.3) | 264 (94.0) | 21 (7.5) | 47 (16.7) | 40 (14.2) |
Information published in professional journals for clinicians (n = 312) | 265 (84.9) | 284 (91.0) | 262 (84.0) | 226 (72.4) | 199 (63.8) | 240 (76.9) | 152 (48.7) | 290 (93.0) | 114 (36.5) | 100 (32.1) | 78 (25.0) |
Information provided by the patient (n = 252 | 65 (25.8) | 130 (51.6) | 114 (45.2) | 239 (94.8) | 158 (62.7) | 106 (42.4) | 53 (21.2) | 234 (93.6) | 19 (7.6) | 40 (16.0) | 33 (13.2) |
Information published in general clinical textbooks (n = 271) | 193 (71.2) | 205 (75.7) | 186 (68.6) | 229 (84.5) | 152 (56.1) | 182 (67.3) | 97 (15.9) | 210 (67.3) | 88 (32.6) | 75 (27.8) | 56 (20.7) |
Information from clinical guidelines (n = 196) | 107 (54.6) | 145 (74.0) | 162 (82.7) | 105 (53.6) | 109 (55.6) | 126 (64.6) | 81 (41.5) | 174 (89.2) | 54 (27.7) | 83 (42.6) | 38 (19.5) |
Information provided by product companies (n = 200) | 146 (73.0) | 176 (88.0) | 166 (83.0) | 62 (31.0) | 70 (35.0) | 132 (66.0) | 59 (29.5) | 175 (87.5) | 41 (20.5) | 47 (23.5) | 22 (11.0) |
Information published in traditional naturopathic clinical textbooks (published more than 50 years ago) (n = 169) | 117 (69.2) | 153 (90.5) | 86 (50.9) | 89 (52.7) | 59 (34.9) | 115 (68.5) | 71 (42.3) | 142 (84.5) | 55 (32.7) | 33 (19.6) | 26 (15.5) |