Achievements and Challenges of Promoting and Developing the Use of Traditional Medicine in the Iranian Family Physician Program

The promotion and development of traditional medicine, along with conventional and modern medicine has encountered different achievements and challenges in different societies. This study aimed to assess the achievements and challenges of promoting and developing the use of traditional medicine in the Iranian Family Physician Program from the viewpoint of managers and administrators.

This cross-sectional study was conducted by holding 16 panels of experts within 2017. The research population included the managers and executers of the implementation of the urban family physician program in 28 cities of Fars province; selected by census. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire and its validity and reliability were confirmed. Data were analyzed by SPSS-23 software at a significance level of Findings: Among 347 people, 188 (54.1%) were male, most of them had a bachelor's degree. The subjects reported a total number of 341 achievements, and 415 challenges. The most mentioned achievements included reducing the cost of treatment(65cases), reducing the use of industrial medicines(52), reducing drug complications(50cases), increasing popularity and people's satisfaction(42cases); and the most mentioned challenges included the lack of necessary infrastructure(63cases) and lack of knowledge of doctors(38cases), Physician opposition(24cases). There was a significant relationship between the number of achievements and challenges with some of the individual variables(P

This study showed that the managers, while hoping for the promotion and development of the benefits of traditional medicine in the family physician program, also have many concerns about misuse and lack of infrastructures required for this program.