Jackson Kaguamba, Dr. MPH, Sphiwe Madiba, MPH Attitudes of biomedicine and alternative medicine practitioners towards collaboration in patient care. Tutume Sub-district- Botswana Jackson Kaguamba, Dr. MPH, Sphiwe Madiba, MPH School of Public Health, University of Limpopo, Medunsa Campus. South Africa Results Background Results Background The government of Botswana through its National Health Policy encourages collaboration between biomedicine and alternative medicine practitioners. The main objective was to foster contact between the two sides to begin discussions on issues of collaboration and to: Promote and foster mutual respect between the two sides Facilitate and maintain dialogue in the form of seminars and workshops Encourage and support research into traditional medicine. Eleven years after the formulation of policy there has not been documentation on how collaboration has unfolded in the country, and this study aimed to fill this gap. Objectives To examine the attitudes of the biomedical and alternative medicine practitioners towards collaboration. To determine collaboration activities that has been going on in the sub district To determine the approach that is recommended by the two sides to promote and strengthen collaboration Demographic profile of participants Gender AM practitioners- more males 25 (64.1%) as compared to 14 (35.9%) females BM practitioners - more females 36 (60%) as compared to24 (40%) males Age AM practitioners – majority 32 (82%) were above 40yrs BM practitioners- majority 40 (80%) were below 40yrs BM’s interaction with AM practitioners - 43 (72.9 %) have never interacted, 16 (27.1%) have had a form of interaction BM’s opinions of AM practitioners – 4 (6.7%) they were colleagues, 31 (51%) they were useful in some selected cases, 10 (16.7%) they were quacks, 18 (30 %) were not sure. BM’s opinions on collaboration – 44 (80%) said yes and 11(20%) said no to collaboration. AM’s attitudes of Biomedicine 23 (57.5%) said it was useful to an extent, 12 (30.8%) said it was useful and 3 (7. 7%) said it was not useful. AM’s opinions of BM practitioners - 35 (92.1%) said colleagues and 3 (7.9%) said they were not AM’s opinions on collaboration 37 (95%) said yes and 2 (5%) said no to collaboration Alternative practitioners Active collaboration and consultation with AM (n=46) No 57% Yes 44% Exchange skills and information (n=48) 29% 53% Integration of the two systems under the same roof (n=47) 81% 19% Students learning BM skills Should also learn AM (n=47) 66% 34% Collaboration be minimized to patient referral (n=44) 36% 63% Sharing knowledge with BM practitioners (n=49) Yes 85% No 15% other AM practitioners 77% 23% AM practitioners learning some BM skills 74.% 26% Willingness to participate in workshops 92% 8% Referring patients to each other 95% 5% Biomedical participants- Doctors – 15, Nurses – 30, Pharmacist – 7, Social workers – 2, Medical tech – 6 AM practitioner’s educational level Only 45 % of AM practitioners were members of Botswana Traditional healers association Materials and Method Conclusion Study site Tutume sub district in Botswana Two district hospitals, 28 clinics and health posts Approximately 150 health professionals Population size -90 000. 00 (2001 census) Unknown number of alternative practitioners Biomedical practitioners were willing to share knowledge with alternative practitioners for the benefit of patients; however this would be on their terms as the majority was not familiar with and not willing to learn any alternative medicine skills Biomedical practitioners have negative attitude towards alternative medicine practitioners and collaboration It was also evident that there has been very little collaboration between the two practitioners- however if there should be collaboration it is seen as a way of encouraging patient referral from AM and a means of teaching them safer practices Patient referral was regarded as the preferred approach to collaboration – but it was also done for the benefit of the patients and seen as a way of referring from AM to BM On the other hand all alternative medicine practitioners were in favour of collaboration, and have a positive attitude towards biomedicine practitioners whom they view as colleagues, and are willing to share knowledge with them. Tutume BM’s attitude towards AM practice Only 11 (18.6%) BM practitioners were aware Ministry of Health’s Policy on Traditional Healers Majority 52 (89.7%) would not refer a patient to AM practitioners, only 6 (10.3%) said they would Majority 39 (66.1%) had no desire to learn any form of AM, 20 (33.9%) said they did, (n= 59) Descriptive survey - structured questionnaires Biomedical Practitioners (n=60) Alternative medicine practitioners (n=40) Data on - demographics, types of AM practices, attitudes on collaboration, approaches to and level of collaboration Spiritual Healer Collaborative activities between BM and AM Practitioners. Collaboration was limited to workshops and seminars attendance by 9 (56%) n=16 Patient referral to AM was reported by 4(25%) n=16 Only 17 (30%) of BM practitioners attended collaborative meetings twice a year Recommendations Literature Cited Bishow M (1990) Attitudes Of Modern And Traditional Medical Practitioners Toward Cooperation. Ethiop Med J April; 28(2) Green E- (n.d) Can Collaborative Programmes between Biomedicine and Indigenous Health Practitioners Succeed? -http:////.stwr.net A full scale study with a much bigger study population and using both quantitative and qualitative methods should be conducted to further explore the area on collaboration between the two sides, Typical Traditional Healer