ABSTRACT
[Objective]The purpose of this study is to investigate a situation of practitioner-patient risk communication about acupuncture and moxibustion treatment.<BR>[Methods]The subjects of this study were 250 Fukuoka City Acupuncture and Moxibustion Association's members and their 1,250 patients in Japan. The practitioner and patient questionnaires included the same items, with the same response categories.<BR>[Results]Ninety-one practitioners (36.40%) and 407 patients (32.56%) returned questionnaires. The 'practitioner better'situation (i.e. when practitioners'evaluations were better than patients'evaluations) had the most negative influence on patient outcome measures compared with the other situations. For the explanation of medical testing, 'length of clinical experience'[OR 1.30, 95%CI 1.00 to 1.68]was a significant predictor of the practitioner-better situation. For the explanation of treatment, 'length of clinical experience'[OR 1.05, 95%CI 1.02 to 1.08]was a significant predictor of the practitioner-better situation. Most patients (73.21%) had not been asked about acupuncture and moxibustion therapy use by their physician. Twenty-seven (48.21%) patients informed their physicians about acupuncture and moxibustion therapy use. Five (4.00%) side effects were reported. The side effect occurred regardless of a practitioner and patient characteristics, and did not influence the patient's outcomes.<BR>[Discussion]It is thought that obtaining knowledge is useful in the architecture of a person for future better practitioner-patient relations.