Alternative and allopathic medicine: What influences patients' choice of health care practitioner

What Influences Patients' Choice of Health Care Practitioner? Linstone's Multiple Perspectives (1984) are used in this study to examine this question from three points of view---the personal perspective, the organizational perspective, and the technical perspective. Examination from the personal perspective focused on what patients want and what they expect to actually receive from their health care practitioners (HCPs). It was proposed that patient preferences stem from psychological needs for control, autonomy, and relatedness and that patients prefer behaviors from their HCPs that support these three needs. Differences between patient preferences and expectations may be a guiding factor in patient decisions and actions about their health care. The organizational perspective provided insight on how managed care organizations (MCOs), different systems (philosophies) of health care, and clinic organization affect HCPs' ability to deliver the care their patients prefer and affect patients' ability to choose their care. The technical perspective led to ideas on how cost-benefit analyses done by the patient (e.g. if the benefit of seeing the HCP was worth the patient's cost in time taken for the appointment), and the type of therapies used by the different types of HCP, influenced patient HCP choice.Participants were 274 patients of allopathic HCPs (MDs) and alternative HCPs (chiropractors, naturopaths, and acupuncturists). Participants completed a survey that solicited information corresponding to the personal, organizational, and technical perspectives. Results showed that all patients preferred that their HCPs engage in behaviors that support control, autonomy, and relatedness and that those who saw alternative HCPs expected to receive more of these support behaviors than patients who saw allopaths. Patients of alternative practitioners reported that their clinics were more customer-friendly. Finally, those who saw alternative practitioners were less concerned about side effects and more likely to report that they see their HCP because the treatment works for their problems, than their allopathic counterparts. It was concluded that all of the previously mentioned issues contributed an important role in patients' choice of HCP and that MCOs and health care system philosophies play a large part in HCPs' likelihood and ability to deliver the care their patients prefer.