The opinions of doctors about korean traditional medicine and unification of medical care system

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: There were a lot of problems in the health care system of Korea, which was divided into Western and Korean Traditional Medicine since 1951. In 1976 WHO published program of The promotion and development of traditional medicine. In 1977, Korean Medical Association(KMA) asked unification of health care system to government. But there was no progress because there were the lacks of mutual respect and understanding be-tween doctors of Western and Korean Traditional Medicine. As one health care group competed with the other, so KMA proposed the unification of health system again in 1997. The objectives of this research are to analyze attitude and opinions of western medical doctors on Korean Traditional Medicine and to analyze the opinions on the unification of medical care system in Korea. METHODS: A list of western medical doctor in Seoul and Incheon was obtained from Korean Medical Association. We sampled 937 doctors by stratified random sampling method. We sent them a postal questionnaire with a prepaid return envelope two times during March and April 1997. Of the 937 questionnaire, 266 replies were received. We analyzed the preference score related referral, Korean Traditional Medicine education and unification of medical care system We analyzed the data by Chisquare test, t-test, ANCOVA. RESULTS: This study shows that the western doctors have negative attitude on Korean Traditional Medicine(M=1K8, SD=5.2). They thought Korean Traditional Medicine was not reliable because it was not scientific(79.4%). Doctor, who didn't take oriental medical education, preferred unification of health care system, but it was not statistically significant. Those who experienced oriental medical education used oriental medical treatment more frequently(F=1.17, p=0.04). The more positive attitude they have about Korean Traditional Medicine, the more frequently they refereed the patient to oriental medical doctor(t =3.57, p =0.0004). CONCLUSIONS: Western medical doctors have a negative attitude on Korean Traditional Medicine. Doctors, who did not have oriental medical education, preferred unification of health care system, but it was not statistically significant. In summary, the lack of mutual respect and understanding between doctors of the Western and Korean Traditional Medicine prevent unification of medical care system.