Health Care Workers use Alternatives for Their Health

A new study shows workers in the health care industry opt for complementary and alternative medicines more than the public.The study appears in this month's Health Services Research journal, called Personal Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) by U.S. Health Care Workers.  It found three out of four American health care workers use complementary or alternative approaches to meet their own health needs.Alan Mozes, reporting on the study in US News and Report Weekly, writes: "What's more, doctors, nurses and their assistants, health technicians, and healthcare administrators were actually more likely than the general public to use any number of wide-ranging alternative medicine options, including massage, yoga, acupuncture, Pilates or herbal medicines."The article quotes study co-author Lori Knutson, executive director of the Penny George Institute for Health and Healing with the Allina Health System in Minneapolis.  She says: "Clearly this means that even our health-care workers are recognizing the need for alternative options in the search for ways to improve our health and lives."For a Connection Commentary on health care choice, see The Lords and the British tradition of choice in healthcare.