Regulatory and legislative protections for consumers in complementary medicine: Lessons from Australian policy and legal developments

Wardle, Jon; Weir, Michael; Marshall, Brenda; Archer, Eloise

doi:10.1016/j.eujim.2014.03.008

Cited by 20 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…However, these two professions are governed by the same regulatory authority as Australia’s Chinese medicine practitioners, which may deter explicit policy challenges by the latter profession. That being said, Australia’s Chinese medicine regulator has ‘been active’ but substantially unsuccessful in attempts use “court action to restrict other practitioners from the therapeutic insertion of needles’ [91, p. 6].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the international standards gap for the use of acupuncture needles by physiotherapists and chiropractors: A policy analysis

Ijaz¹,

Boon²

2019

PLoS ONE

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BackgroundAcupuncture needles have become an increasingly-popular treatment tool used by multiple health professions. However, the World Health Organization (WHO)’s 1999 training guidelines for acupuncture address only medical doctors and licensed acupuncturists, leaving a gap as to appropriate training standards for other professions.Aims and methodsWith reference to an extensive document analysis, and interviews with seventeen acupuncture educators from across several professions in Ontario, Canada, this work uses a critical qualitative policy analytic approach to: a) present a comprehensive account of statutory training requirements for acupuncture-needling physiotherapists and chiropractors in the United States, Canada, and Australia; and b) evaluate competing stakeholder discourses pertaining to recent related controversies.ResultsA wide range of educational requirements are evident across the jurisdictions under study (most below the 200-hour WHO guideline for physicians); and there is considerable disagreement among stakeholders as to what constitutes sufficient training in various forms of acupuncture, including ‘dry needling’. Organizations defending brief post-graduate training for needling physiotherapists and chiropractors are generally associated with these two professions, and contend that their ‘dry needling’ practices differ substantially from traditional acupuncture. Characterizing such brief training as insufficient, opportunistic and unsafe, and ‘dry needling’ as a subset of acupuncture practice, are the voices of all acupuncture educators interviewed, as well as professional organizations representing physicians, licensed acupuncturists, and some physiotherapists and chiropractors.Discussion and conclusionCritiquing claims on both sides of the debate, this work calls for the development of independent, international safety-geared training guidelines that explicitly address the recent, evidence-informed trend towards biomedicalized acupuncture needling. Findings also suggest a need for additional research regarding the current shift towards overlapping—rather than exclusive—health professional practice scopes in industrialized countries.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the international standards gap for the use of acupuncture needles by physiotherapists and chiropractors: A policy analysis

Ijaz¹,

Boon²

2019

PLoS ONE

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“…18 One important implication of confusing and/ or non-existing reporting regimes for CM products is that it limits the availability of adverse events data in relation to CM products and as a result likely leads to significant underreporting of CM adverse events. 10,19 Future Research Directions Amid this complex regulatory and legal landscape, very little is known about the regulatory risks associated with what CM practitioners and manufacturers actually do in their practice, and the impact on consumers; thus impeding the development of effective and workable regulatory and legislative provisions. When regulations of CM are informed by practice (for example, national registration which relies on a system of peer-monitoring), regulation is highly responsive and effective, and in many cases more effective at its goals of protecting the public than many conventional medicine regulations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…9 Nevertheless, the highly contentious and politicised nature of CM often results in a hesitance to regulate these practices by governments. 10 Current Australian health regulation does not address the CM market in a comprehensive way. 10,11 Only chiropractors, osteopaths and Chinese medicine practitioners are fully incorporated into the national health practitioner registration system (ie, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency) alongside medical and allied health practitioners, but other CM practitioners such as naturopaths, herbalists, and massage therapists are at best self-regulated (voluntary membership of professional associations).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…10 Current Australian health regulation does not address the CM market in a comprehensive way. 10,11 Only chiropractors, osteopaths and Chinese medicine practitioners are fully incorporated into the national health practitioner registration system (ie, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency) alongside medical and allied health practitioners, but other CM practitioners such as naturopaths, herbalists, and massage therapists are at best self-regulated (voluntary membership of professional associations). However, even if CM practitioners are not even self-regulated, they must adhere to the National Code of Conduct for Health Care Workers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Regulation of the Complementary Health Sector: General Public’s Knowledge of Complementary Medicine-Related Quality Assurance and Consumer Protection

Sibbritt

Peng

Wardle

et al. 2021

Int J Health Policy Manag

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Background: Complementary medicine (CM) use is a ubiquitous aspect of an increasingly consumer-driven model of healthcare delivery and plays an increasingly prominent role in the Australian health sector. Yet there is limited empirical research investigating the quality and integrity of protections for consumers in Australia. The aim of this study is to help address this gap in knowledge by exploring how members of the public engage with protection mechanisms related to CM use. Methods: This study utilised a cross-sectional online survey to recruit a sample of 1132 Australian adults aged 18 and over. Purposive convenience sampling was used to recruit participants from an existing database of Australian adults who had expressed interest in participating in research. Results: The majority of the participants (64.0%) had visited a CM practitioner in their lifetime. However, a minority of participants (36.9%) indicated they would feel confident in knowing where to complain if something went wrong with the treatment they received from a CM practitioner. Most participants (74.7%) had used a CM product in their lifetime. Specifically, 32.3% had 'ever' used an herbal product and 69.9% had 'ever' used a nutritional supplement. However, a minority of participants (32.7%) indicated they would feel confident knowing where to complain if something went wrong with a herbal or nutritional supplement they used. Most participants indicated a lack of knowledge about how CM practitioners and CM products are regulated in Australia. Conclusion:The findings of this study clearly highlight a concerning lack of knowledge by CM patients and consumers regarding the regulation of CM in Australia. From a policy perspective, it is necessary to seek proactive approaches that target complaint-related knowledge of the CM patients and consumers through education and advocacy efforts.

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“…traditional Chinese medicine, chiropractic and osteopathy), with defined scope of practice, protection of title and regulated education standards; however, many others are largely unregulated (e.g. naturopathy and homoeopathy) (Wardle, 2014;Wardle et al, 2014). Many outer urban and rural areas in Australia have a high number of CAM practitioners.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of complementary and alternative medicine practitioners in the information‐seeking pathway of vaccine‐hesitant parents in the Blue Mountains area, Australia

Frawley

McKenzie

Janosi³

et al. 2021

Health Soc Care Community

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While immunisation rates were 94.63% for the whole Nepean Blue Mountains region of New South Wales in 2017, coverage for 1 year olds in the upper Blue Mountains was under 80%. There is a known relationship between vaccine-hesitant parents and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use; however, little is known about how CAM practitioners fit within the information-seeking pathway of parents. This exploratory study sought to address this knowledge gap. Qualitative semi-structured interviews with vaccine-hesitant and vaccine rejecting parents and CAM practitioners purposively sampled from the Blue Mountains area revealed three sets of themes: 1) Parents' search for further information about immunisation; 2) Parents' use of CAM practitioners as an immunisation information source; and 3) CAM practitioners' engagement with parents about immunisation. CAM practitioners form a definite, if complex, part of vaccinehesitant and vaccine-rejecting parents decision-making pathway in the Blue Mountains area. The notion of patient choice is crucial to vaccine discussions. Development of support materials, such as decision resources which give impartial and detailed information while acknowledging and supporting patient choice, are needed to support both CAM practitioners and parents in making informed vaccination decisions.

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Regulatory and legislative protections for consumers in complementary medicine: Lessons from Australian policy and legal developments

Cited by 20 publications

References 29 publications

Evaluating the international standards gap for the use of acupuncture needles by physiotherapists and chiropractors: A policy analysis

Evaluating the international standards gap for the use of acupuncture needles by physiotherapists and chiropractors: A policy analysis

The Regulation of the Complementary Health Sector: General Public’s Knowledge of Complementary Medicine-Related Quality Assurance and Consumer Protection

The role of complementary and alternative medicine practitioners in the information‐seeking pathway of vaccine‐hesitant parents in the Blue Mountains area, Australia

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