ObjectivesThe purposes of this study were to develop a pain management model using traditional medicine (TM) vodou healing methods; to survey a sample of French dentists to rate components of conventional and proposed TM vodou-based pain management model; and to assess the possibility of conventional, allopathic providers to integrate TM or complementary and alternative medicine concepts.MethodsFrom a set of 30 fact sheets collected from TM African healers (vodou healers), main clinical concepts and terminology were extracted. Twenty vodou-based pain management concepts were collected from an interview with a TM vodou practitioner. From this information, a 7-step vodou-based pain management model was created. A sample of 40 French dentists from Nantes, France, whose practices focused on the clinical treatment of dental pain, was surveyed to assess the importance of both TM (vodou) and conventional biomedical components.ResultsSeventy percent of the dentists sampled rated the rational components of the TM model as “very important” or “important” for pain treatment, whereas 2 other traditional concepts were considered to be “supernatural” or beyond understanding.ConclusionThis study showed that traditional healers used conventional concepts and conventional practitioners could use traditional concepts. This suggests that conventional allopathic medical providers have the capacity to integrate biomedical concepts and other therapeutic and explanatory models. This information may be helpful to understand and improve risk management by anticipating and preventing potential reasons for failure in TM integration strategies and to enhance communication between patients, healers, and physicians to optimize TM or complementary and alternative medicine integration.

Background: According to the World Health Organization, communication is one of the most important challenges for the integration of Traditional or Complementary and Alternative Medicine (TM/CAM) into healthcare systems. Objective: To develop harmonized tools and a standardized communication method between traditional and conventional medicine for pain management in order to facilitate communication between health actors in the context of dentistry. Materials and methods: We took a healer-centered approach and collected 30 information sheets from African healers. Using knowledge engineering techniques we extracted information models, candidate terms and terminologies. Next, we designed a UML-based use case of communication between traditional and conventional medicines. Finally, an integrative communication method was formalized through the identification of processes and communication tools. Results: Our findings showed that patients, dentists and healers communicate using popular terminology that can include specific terms. However, it is possible that they do not fully understand the challenges created by the use of biomedical vocabulary. We were able to develop an integrative communication method structured around a vocabulary shared by traditional medicine and conventional medicine, ontology, a thesaurus, two information models, a context field, the tasks of the health actor, communication interfaces, communication processes and the type of communication. Conclusion: Communication between traditional medicine and conventional medicine depends on the capacity of healthcare actors and the healthcare system to integrate and use concepts and therapeutic models from the other approach. An evaluation of the ability of a healthcare system and its actors to use the biomedical paradigm from another healthcare system may help to prevent health and socioeconomic risks related to the integration of TM/CAM.

Introduction According to the taxonomy of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP 2011), neuropathic pain (NeuP) is defined as “ pain caused by a lesion or disease of the somatosensory nervous system ”. NeuP is currently well-defined clinically, despite a high degree of etiological variation, and it has become a significant public health problem. This work aimed to study the situation regarding NeuP in current practice in Mali, as well as to analyze the therapeutic environment of the patients. Methodology This was a retrospective and cross-sectional study, carried out in two phases: (1) compilation of the files of patients according to the ICD-11, over a period of 24 months (2) a second prospective phase regarding the Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAP) of general practitioners and neurologists in regard to NeuP. The focus of the first phase of the study was the files of the patients who had undergone a consultation at the Gabriel Touré UHC. The second phase of the study focused on the general practitioners (Community Health Centers (comHC) of Bamako) and neurologists (Malian or not). Results Over the period of the study, 7840 patients were seen in consultation in the Department of Neurology, of whom 903 for NeuP, thus amounting to a NeuP frequency of 11.5%. Women accounted for 58.9% (532/903), with a sex ratio of 1.4. Using a comparative normal law, the difference in frequency was statistically significant between males and females ( p < 10 −7 ) and between two age groups (p 〈10 −3 ). The 49–58 years of age group was represented the most. Diabetic NeuP (21%), lumbar radiculopathies (14%), HIV/AIDS NeuP (13%), and post-stroke NeuP (11%) were the most represented. The survey among the carers revealed: a need for training, a low level of compliance with the therapeutic guidelines, and the use of traditional medicine by the patients. Discussion/conclusion This work confirms that NeuP is encountered frequently in current practice, and its optimal management will involve specific training of carers and improvement of access to the medications recommended in this indication. In light of this issue, we revisit the debate regarding the concept of essential medications and the relevance of taking into account effective medications for the treatment of NeuP.