P02.103
Purpose: This study describes patients' most commonly stated goals for initiating Integrative Medicine (IM) treatment with accompanying information about their current health status, IM practices, and overall self-rated health.
Methods: 202 patients completed an intake questionnaire at the University of California, San Diego Center for Integrative Medicine. Before initiating the first physician visit, patients were asked: “What are your goals for, or what do you hope to accomplish from this visit?” Patients' responses were qualitatively analyzed to determine the most common emergent themes. These themes were contextualized using additional data gathered in the intake questionnaire, such as patient demographics, most common symptoms, most common IM modalities currently used, and overall self-rated health.
Results: Qualitative analyses of the patients' goals of care revealed three primary themes. First, patients were interested in finding different treatments for known medical conditions (51%): “I know what's wrong with me, but I want a different treatment.” Secondly, patients expressed a desire for optimal health (32%): “Make me a better person.” Finally, 12% of patients visited their IM physician in order to find answers to their “mystery” symptoms: “What's wrong with me?” Patients in each of the three groups utilized very distinct language to describe their aims. However, patients in all categories were similar demographically, and nearly all reported multiple symptoms. Although patients across all categories reported high self-ratings of overall health, less than half of patients (45%) reported current usage of any of the 30 listed IM modalities.
Conclusion: Although differing with respect to primary goals of care, patients demonstrated similarities in most other areas of interest to clinicians: symptoms, self-rated health, and overall use of IM therapies. This suggests that although patients may present with similar medical profiles, goals of care differ appreciably and may in fact be a key difference when determining personalized treatment plans.
Contact: Gordon Saxe, gsaxe@ucsd.edu
