Chinese Medicine in Australia

Abstract

Objectives: Chinese medicine is a complex domain of theoretical and practical approaches that is being increasingly put under the research spotlight. The "Chinese Medicine in Australia" research project attempted to capture the clinical features of practitioners of Chinese medicine.

Participants and interventions: The project involved a national survey of Chinese medicine professional association members and registered practitioners in the state of Victoria, Australia (n = 655; response rate, 42%-55%) completed in 2012-2013.

Design: The content and face validated survey was developed using new and previous workforce survey questions.

Results: This paper reports on the workforce and practice characteristics of the survey respondents. Chinese medicine practitioners are highly educated, come from diverse backgrounds, and have chosen to practice predominantly in sole or multipractitioner private practice settings. An interest in the philosophy of Chinese medicine and previous experiences contributed to practitioners' decisions to study and practice Chinese medicine. Incorporating a variety of techniques, practitioners describe themselves as practicing predominantly Chinese acupuncture and herbal medicine.

Conclusions: The results from this survey contribute to the understanding of the nature and description of Chinese medicine practice in Australia.