Medical Students’ Knowledge, Attitude and Practice towards Traditional and Complementary Medicine, Tanta City, Gharbiyah Governorate, Egypt

Background: The use of traditional and complementary medicine (T&CM) is rising among public and patients around the world, and this epidemiological trend is attributed to multiple explanations including diverse cultural belief systems.

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of medical students towards T&CM.

Methods: A cross-sectional study enrolled a random sample of 1160 medical students from Tanta city, Gharbiyah governorate, Egypt between February and March, 2016. Their responses were recorded on a self-designed and self-administered structured questionnaire.

Results: About 86.21% of students had some knowledge about T&CM. Media was the main source of knowledge (TV 31.2%, and internet 13.6%) but males (media, 63.2%) and females (multiple sources, 32.9%) differed significantly concerning source of knowledge (P<0.05).Of studied subjects, 66.6% used once some form of T&CM in lifetime but 62.2% of them used more than one modality. The most common modalities used in decreasing frequency were herbal medicine, Prophetic medicine, cupping (hijama), nutritional supplements, and honey and bee products. The reported reasons for using T&CM included being safe with less side effects (29.0%), religious and social beliefs (25.5%), failure of conventional medicine (15.9%) and less cost (13.1%). Most of the participants (80.3%) agreed that T&CM services should be available to patients. 90.0% of students expressed that T&CM needs to be regulated by concerned authorities. Furthermore, 86.6% of the participants suggested that the community including patients need health education about T&CM.

Conclusion: Overall, majority of participants showed good knowledge and favourable attitudes towards T&CM along with its good practice. Furthermore, T&CM needs regulatory measures along with its integration into conventional medicine. T&CM should be accessible to all patients, and all concerned people including medical students require mandatory health education and training to further improve their KAP.