the question said they never refer their clients for functional pathology tests , followed by 23.8 % ( 335 out of 1409 ) who said they occasionally do . A total of 6.1 % ( 30 out of 491 ) of Ingestive Medicine respondents said they very frequently refer their clients for functional pathology tests and 24.9 % ( 122 out of 491 ) said they do so frequently . A total of 30.2 % ( 41 out of 136 ) of Registered Professionals said they occasionally refer their clients for functional pathology tests . Physical Medicine Practitioners had the highest percentage ( 53.3 %, 318 out of 597 ) of respondents who said they never refer their clients for functional pathology , followed by 42.1 % ( 8 out of 19 ) of Energetic Medicine practitioners and 35.7 % ( 5 out of 14 ) of Mind-body medicine practitioners ( see Figure 4.2 ).
Use of medical diagnostic tests Respondents were asked how frequently they used medical diagnostic tests ( e . g ., blood tests , X-rays ) to inform their assessment of clients . Many natural therapies use medical diagnostic tests to inform their assessment of clients , while some do not . A total of 26.2 % ( 369 out of 1408 ) of all those who answered the question said they used medical diagnostic tests occasionally and 27.0 % ( 380 out of 1408 ) said they use them frequently . Figure 4.3 shows that the discipline categories with the highest percentages of respondents who use them frequently are Ingestive Medicine ( 43.7 %, 214 out of 490 ), Registered Profession ( 33.8 %, 46 out of 136 ) and Mind-body Medicine ( 28.6 %, 4 out of 14 ). A total of 42.9 % ( 6 out of 14 ) of Mind-body Medicine said they do not use medical diagnostic tests .
Respondents were also asked how frequently they discussed treatment options with other health practitioners : 47 % reported occasionally , 11 % reported frequently and 1.7 % reported very frequently .
Referral from Other Health Practitioners Almost half 46.6 % ( 656 out f 1408 ) of respondents said they occasionally received referrals from other health care professionals , 21.8 % ( 307 out of
Percentage
50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0
Never |
Very Rarely |
Rarely |
Occasionally |
Frequently |
Very |
|
|
|
|
|
Frequently |
Physical Medicine Ingestive Medicine Energetic Medicine Registered Profession
Mind-body Medicine
Figure 4.3 Use of Medical Diagnostic Tests for Assessment by Discipline Category *
* Forty-two respondents out of 1298 who answered the question about their use of medical diagnostic tests nominated their primary discipline as ‘ Other ’. This category has not been represented in Figure 4.3 .
1408 ) said they frequently received these referrals and 2.5 % ( 35 out of 1408 ) said very frequently . A total of 25.6 % ( 153 out of 598 ) of Physical Medicine and 22.4 % ( 30 out of 134 ) of Registered Professionals said they frequently received referrals from other health practitioners ( see Table 4.2 ).
5 . Adverse Reactions Adverse Reactions to Natural Therapies The survey asked practitioners if they had suspected any adverse reactions in their clients over the past 12 months . In total , 1,421 practitioners answered this question . Ninety-nine respondents ( 7.0 %) stated they had suspected an adverse reaction in the past 12 months , while 1,322 practitioners ( 93 %) said they did not ( see Figure 5.1 ). n (%)
Discipline Never Very Rarely Rarely Occasionally
Frequently
Very Frequently
Physical Medicine 18 ( 3.0 ) 61 ( 10.2 ) 58 ( 9.7 ) 288 ( 48.2 ) 153 ( 25.6 ) 20 ( 3.3 ) 598 ( 100 ) Ingestive Medicine 41 ( 8.4 ) 62 ( 12.6 ) 76 ( 15.5 ) 214 ( 43.6 ) 89 ( 18.1 ) 9 ( 1.8 ) 491 ( 100 ) Energetic Medicine 2 ( 10.5 ) 1 ( 5.3 ) 4 ( 21.1 ) 10 ( 52.6 ) 2 ( 10.5 ) 0 19 ( 100 ) Registered Profession 9 ( 6.7 ) 8 ( 6.0 ) 22 ( 16.4 ) 62 ( 46.2 ) 30 ( 22.4 ) 3 ( 2.2 ) 134 ( 100 ) Mind-body Medicine 0 ( 0 ) 2 ( 14.3 ) 1 ( 7.1 ) 7 ( 50 ) 3 ( 21.4 ) 1 ( 7.1 ) 14 ( 100 ) Other 6 ( 14.3 ) 5 ( 12.0 ) 4 ( 9.5 ) 18 ( 42.9 ) 8 ( 19.1 ) 1 ( 2.4 ) 42 ( 100 ) Total 76 ( 5.9 %) 139 ( 10.7 ) 165 ( 12.7 ) 599 ( 46.2 ) 285 ( 22.0 ) 34 ( 2.6 ) 1,298 ( 100 )
Table 4.2 Referrals from Other Health Practitioners
Figure 5.1 Suspected Adverse Reactions
Total
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